"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."
Global markets fell after an unexpectedly strong reading of S&P Global's composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed that the U.S. economy was not cooling. Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes fell, with high-weightage financials dropping 0.83% and information technology stocks losing nearly 0.75%, respectively.
All 10 constituents of the IT index were in the red.
Forty-two of the Nifty 50 constituents declined with Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports falling nearly 7% and 4%, respectively. Among individual stocks, Wockhardt bucked the broader trend and jumped nearly 6% after the company said a restructuring of its business will lead to annual savings of $12 million. Separately, the National Stock Exchange
extended
trading hours for interest rate derivatives to 5 p.m. IST
from Feb. 23, to better hedge risks with global equities.
In a discussion
paper
, India's markets regulator had said that longer trading
hours helped market participants manage risks arising out of
global information flow.
($1 = 82.8330 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
