"The crucial issue influencing equity markets globally is whether the U.S. will succeed in containing inflation without falling into a recession," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.U.S. data showed retail sales fell
the most in a year in December, while manufacturing output recorded its biggest drop in nearly two years. Fed policymakers on Wednesday signalled they will push on with more interest rate hikes, even as inflation shows signs of having peaked and economic activity is slowing. In domestic trading, most of the 13 Nifty sectoral indexes were in the negative territory, with metal stocks among the worst decliners, falling over 1%, after two straight sessions of gains.
"Metals have benefited on hopes of demand recovery from China, re-opening its borders, and now we are seeing some profit booking in the sector," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.