Indian shares fell to a three-week low on Monday following a spate of disappointing corporate results, including from InterGlobe Aviation, and after a business survey showed manufacturing growth fell its lowest in four months.

The Nikkei/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index fell to a four-month low of 50.5 in April from March's 52.4, nearing the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction and the lowest reading of the year.

Sentiment was also hit as Japan's Nikkei share average slumped 3 per cent after the yen hit a fresh 18-month high against the dollar.

At 3.30 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 169.65 points or 0.66 per cent at 25,436.97 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 43.9 points or 0.56 per cent at 7,805.90.

Among BSE sectoral indices, banking index fell the most by 1.34 per cent, followed by IT 0.65 per cent, TECk 0.65 per cent and realty 0.59 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was up 1.07 per cent, followed by metal 1.02 per cent, infrastructure 0.28 per cent and oil & gas 0.25 per cent.

ICICI Bank fell over 4 per cent to its lowest since April 12, heading for its fourth straight session of falls, and the second after it posted a fall of 76 per cent in its January-March net profit on Friday.

Among other firms, InterGlobe Aviation, the owner of India's largest carrier IndiGo, ended lower by 4.5 per cent as the company's quarterly net profit grew only marginally after a sharp rise in rentals and depreciation.

Bajaj Auto fell 0.4 per cent after the two-wheeler maker posted a 2 per cent fall in its monthly auto sales for April.

Top five Sensex losers were ICICI Bank (-4.08%), Dr Reddy's (-2.66%), Adani Ports (-1.93%), Bharti Airtel (-1.64%) and HDFC Bank (-1.37%), while the major gainers were BHEL (+1.91%), GAIL (+1.89%), Hero MotoCorp (+0.99%), Maruti (+0.91%) and Lupin (+0.58%).

“We expect markets to remain in a trading range for the next few days. Market valuations are full and the results season has been tepid, hence there is no big upside trigger,” said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.

“Investors will now look at the progress of the monsoon from the last week of May in order to increase equity allocation.”

A report by SMC Global said: "Asian stocks fell after the yen strengthened past 107 per dollar, weighing on the earnings outlook for Japanese exporters, while data in China suggested the country’s central bank may have less need to loosen monetary policy. US stocks eased on Friday, ending the month with a whimper and adding to suspicions the rally that began in February, is running on fumes.Standard & Poor's maintained the sovereign ratings of the UK with 'negative' outlook. The negative outlook continues to reflect the view that the forthcoming referendum on the UK's membership of the EU is likely to be a close call and could result in a vote to leave. The rating agency cautioned that the possibility that the UK could leave the EU as a consequence of a planned referendum represents a significant risk to the UK.''

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