Indian shares closed lower for the fourth time in five sessions, following overnight losses in US equities, after the Federal Reserve minutes stoked expectations for a faster pace of interest-rate increases than previously expected.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex dropped less than 0.1% at the close in Mumbai. State-owned explorer Oil & Natural Gas Corp retreated 2.1% after its oil production fell in January from a year earlier. Drugmaker Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd climbed 3%, rebounding from Wednesday’s 6% decline.
The NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped 0.1%, after an intraday slide of as much as 0.6%, ahead of the expiry of the February series of the futures and options contracts.
“Hawkish central bank tones impacted Indian equities sentimentally even as the expiry of February derivatives series later today added to volatility,” said Purvesh Shelatkar, senior vice president of institutional sales at Mumbai-based Centrum Broking Ltd. The Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting minutes suggested the pace of interest rate increases will speed up, while Reserve Bank of India minutes showed members are concerned about the inflationary impact of the government’s expansionary budget. India’s bonds dropped a fifth straight day. India’s key gauges are headed for their worst month in two years, following a global equity rout and as investors continue to assess the impact of additional domestic taxes on equity gains. Fourteen of the 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE Ltd retreated yesterday, led by the S&P BSE Oil & Gas Index’s 1.5% drop.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 29 paise to close at 65.04 against the US dollar from its previous close at 64.76.

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