Sensex Slumps 773 Points; Nifty Dips Below 17,400

Indian shares tumbled on Friday, with technology stocks and PSU banks among the worst hit.

Global stocks sank, the dollar rose to an eight-day high and the U.S. 10-year yield held close to 2 percent, as a spike in U.S. inflation coupled with hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official stoked concerns about an aggressive tightening of monetary policy.

Overnight data showed that U.S. inflation accelerated more than expected to 7.5 percent on an annual basis in January, the highest reading since 1982.

Following the data, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said that he favoured a full percentage point of interest rate hikes by July.

Bullard added that he preferred a half-point hike in March but would defer to Powell.

Indian benchmark indexes followed global peers lower, with the 30-share BSE Sensex ending down 773.11 points, or 1.31 percent, at 58,152.92, snapping a three-day winning streak.

The Nifty50 slumped 231.10 points, or 1.31 percent, to settle at 17,374.75.
The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices shed about 2 percent each, clocking weekly losses of up to 3.4 percent.

Among the prominent decliners, HCL Technologies, UPL, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and Grasim lost 2-3 percent.

Zomato plummeted 6 percent and Nuvoco Vistas Corporation plunged 6.7 percent on disappointing earnings results.