Indian shares decline on Fed worries

20 Feb, 2023

BENGALURU: Indian shares fell on Friday, tracking Wall Street, after a fresh slate of US economic data underscored bets that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates higher for longer.

The Nifty 50 index closed 0.51% lower at 17,944.20, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.52% at 61,002.57.

The day’s losses notwithstanding, the Nifty 50 rose 0.49% in the week, its third such gain in a row.

The benchmark is likely to trade between 17,800 and 18,300 in the next two weeks, analysts said.

On Friday, 12 of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with heavyweight financials and information technology (IT) stocks losing 0.83% and 1.21% respectively.

The drop in domestic equities comes after a slide in Wall Street as data showed a higher-than-expected rise in producer prices in January and a fall in jobless claims, signalling the Fed could stick with its high-rate regime.

That could weigh on growth in the world’s largest economy, from where Indian IT companies get a significant share of their revenue.

All 10 constituents of the IT index declined, with HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy services, Wipro and Infosys losing between 0.8% and 1.6%.

Nestle India fell 3.19% as analysts flagged concerns of volume growth deceleration.

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