Indian shares fall over 1%, track Asian peers over inflation worries
BENGALURU - Indian shares tumbled over 1% on Friday, tracking a decline in Asian peers as U.S. stocks fell sharply overnight on worries the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike this week may not be enough to help fight surging inflation.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 1.59% at 16,417.65 as of 0352 GMT, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.39% to 54,928.29. The benchmark indexes looked set to fall for a fourth straight week.
All Nifty 50 components were trading lower, with the metal, IT, auto and finance sub-indexes among the top losers, declining between 1% and 2%.
Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, was down 0.9%. The oil-to-retail conglomerate is expected to report quarterly results later in the day.
Asian stocks fell over concerns that U.S. Federal Reserve and some other major central banks will have to raise interest rates even more aggressively to combat red-hot inflation. [MKTS/GLOB]
The Fed on Wednesday raised interest rates by half a percentage point as expected and Chair Jerome Powell explicitly ruled out a hike of 75 basis points in the next meeting.