The Nifty 50 was down 0.30% at 18,242.20 as of 10:15 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.29% to 61,727.23. Nine of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with the metal index falling over 1%. The slide comes after U.S. jobless claims and producer prices data signalled a potential slowdown in the world's largest economy.
Weak macro data from China, the world's largest producer and consumer of metals, also added to the concerns.
Information technology firms lost steam amid rising fears of a recession in the United States and Europe from where they draw the bulk of revenue. The index was down 0.5%.
Auto index climbed over 1% on a more than 6% rise in Eicher Motors Ltd after its fourth-quarter profit beat estimates. Shares of Sona BLW Precision Forgings Ltd and Max Healthcare Institute Ltd surged over 3% each after index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) added them to its India Standard Index following a quarterly rejig. Meanwhile, Adani Total Gas Ltd , Adani Transmission Ltd and Indus Towers Ltd lost between 2% and 6% after being removed from the index. Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, sought investors to "utilise a buy-on-decline strategy in the broader markets," pointing to the limited downside for Nifty 50.
The benchmark has risen 0.75% so far this week and is on course to extend gains for a third consecutive week.
Investors await domestic retail inflation data for April,
scheduled to be released at 5:30 p.m. IST. India's consumer
inflation likely cooled to an 18-month low of 4.80% in April,
according to a Reuters poll of economists.
($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by
Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Janane Venkatraman)
