(Updates closing levels)
By Bharath Rajeswaran
BENGALURU, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Indian shares fell for the
fourth session in a row on Wednesday and recorded their worst
day in over three weeks after strong U.S. data fuelled worries
about higher-for-longer interest rates.
The Nifty 50 index closed down 1.53% at 17,554.30,
its lowest in over four months. The S&P BSE Sensex fell
1.53% at 59,744.98.
Wall Street posted its worst one-day slump of the year on
Tuesday after U.S. business activity returned to expansion for
the first time in eight months in February, fuelling fears of
continued high rates.
Those worries remain in focus ahead of the release, later in
the day, of the minutes of the latest meetings of the U.S.
Federal Reserve as well as the Reserve Bank of India.
"The probability of impending rate hikes by the U.S. Fed has
risen from two to three, in the light of new data," said
Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal
Financial Services.
"Fear of a hawkish Fed has gripped markets and kept
investors on tenterhooks."
All the 13 major sectoral indexes fell, with the heavyweight
financials dropping 1.76% and information technology losing more than 1%.
Metals tumbled 2.64% to their worst day in
nearly three weeks due to a dip in metal prices and a 10.58%
drop in Adani Enterprises .
Forty-eight of the Nifty 50 constituents declined. Reliance
Industries and HDFC Bank , the two most
heavily weighted stocks on the index, lost 2.27% and 1.96%,
respectively.
Among individual stocks, Wockhardt bucked the
broader trend to jump 1.24% after the company said a business
restructuring will help it save $12 million annually.
Separately, the National Stock Exchange extended trading
hours for interest rate derivatives to 5 p.m. IST from Feb. 23,
to help investors better hedge risks with global equities.
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Nifty 50 closes at the lowest in over four months ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Varun H K)
+919769003463))
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