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BENGALURU -Indian shares closed lower on Wednesday, tracking Asian peers, as appetite for risk assets soured over fears of a global economic slowdown.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed down 0.94% at 17,038.40 and the S&P BSE Sensex settled down 0.94% at 56,819.39.

The roller-coaster ride in markets is set to continue in the near-term, V.K. Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, wrote in a note.

Global stocks were hurt by news of Russia cutting gas supplies to Eastern Europe, prospects of aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes, worries over sky-high inflation and stringent COVID-19-related curbs in China.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.1% to its lowest level since March 15. [MKTS/GLOB]

In India, stocks across sectors lost ground. Nifty's small-cap index closed down 0.61% and the mid-cap index settled 0.9% lower.

Nifty's volatility index, an indicator of the degree of volatility traders expect over the next 30 days, rose as much as 11.4%.

Hindustan Unilever closed down 0.15% and Bajaj Auto settled up 0.4% ahead of their quarterly results later in the day.

Reliance Industries settled 0.1% higher. During the session, the conglomerate scaled a fresh peak and became the first Indian company to breach a market capitalisation of 19 trillion rupees ($247.91 billion).

The conglomerate said on Tuesday it signed a formal shareholder agreement for a deal it had announced with TA'ZIZ for Ruwais Chemicals Project last year.