BENGALURU (Reuters) – Indian shares opened lower on Thursday, tracking a slide in global equities on concerns over the Fed’s rate-hike trajectory, while a drop in Adani Group company stocks pulled indexes down further.
The Nifty 50 index was down 0.48% at 17,785.60, as of 9:44 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.30% to 60,483.88.
Thirty-six of the Nifty 50 constituents declined with Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports falling 15% and 7.5%, respectively.
Adani Group shares had recouped losses for two consecutive sessions after witnessing a sharp selloff following the U.S. short-seller Hindenburg’s report flagging concerns on the conglomerate’s financials on Jan. 24.
However, index provider MSCI said on Thursday it had determined that some Adani securities should no longer be designated as free float.
Eleven of the 13 sectoral indexes logged losses with metal index falling over 2.5%. Adani Enterprises, with nearly 20% weightage on the metal index, led the decline.
“While domestic growth remains sound compared to global counterparts, worries of extended rate hike regime in the U.S. could dampen sentiment in the near term,” said Prashant Tapse, research analyst at Mehta Equities.
Wall Street equities fell overnight following divergent views on rate hikes from key Fed officials.
Governor Christopher Waller said that the battle to reach Fed’s 2% inflation target “might be a long fight,” while Governor Lisa Cook was optimistic of a “soft landing.” In a speech on Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell underlined that “disinflation” was underway.
Asian markets fell, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan sliding 0.13%.
($1 = 82.6370 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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