Indian shares fell on Wednesday, led by information technology (IT) and financials, after hotter-than-expected US inflation fuelled concerns of further delay in interest rate cuts, weighing on sentiment.
The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.63% at 21,607.45, while BSE Sensex fell 0.70% to 71,066.01, as of 10:15 am IST.
Eight of the 13 major sectors logged losses. The highest weighted sector - financial services - shed 0.5%.
Thirty-four of the Nifty 50 stocks declined. The broader, more-domestically focussed small-caps rose 0.5%, while mid-caps shed 0.3%.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the US, lost about 2%, after data showed that inflation in the world's largest economy slowed less than expected in January, hurting market expectations of an early Federal Reserve rate cut. Asian markets declined.
Infosys, LTI, Mindtree and Tech Mahindra dropped about 2.3% each and were the top three Nifty 50 losers.
"January's hotter-than-expected US inflation report has thrown the global financial market into a tailspin," said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
The inflation reading has upended investors' expectations about how soon and by how much the Fed might start cutting rates, Mr Jasani added.
Among individual stocks, Ahluwalia Contracts, Entertainment Network, Nuvama Wealth Management, Nesco and Electrosteel Castings gained between 3% and 13% on posting strong quarterly results.
Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, MTAR Technologies and Hindustan Copper dropped between 2% and 12% after they reported weak earnings.
Paytm fell 7.5% on the day. The stock is now down about 54% since the Reserve Bank of India's clampdown on the company's payments bank business on Jan. 31.
Railtel Corporation jumped 4% on winning an order worth Rs 1.4 billion.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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