Sensex, Nifty retreat on soaring US inflation, Ukraine worries

New Delhi: Indian shares fell after three straight sessions of gains on Friday (March 11), as global risk appetite worsened after surging U.S. inflation stoked worries of aggressive interest rate hikes and Russia-Ukraine talks made little apparent progress.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index was down 0.25% at 16,553.65, as of 0351 GMT, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.24% to 55,329.50. Both indexes, however, were set for their first weekly gain in five.

The Nifty`s financial services index, auto index and IT index were among the top losers, falling between 0.2% and 0.8%.

U.S. inflation hit a four-decade high, data released on Thursday showed, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike key interest rates at the conclusion of next week`s monetary policy meeting.

No breakthrough in talks between Russia and Ukraine`s foreign ministers in Turkey also dented the overall sentiment. Also Read: Elon Musk, Grimes welcome second baby ‘Exa Dark Siderael’; plan to have more in future

Meanwhile, oil prices crawled higher but were on track for their biggest weekly drops since November after see-sawing on fears of escalating bans on Russian oil versus efforts to bring more supply to market from other major producers. Also Read: Russia-Ukraine War: Russia bans export of 200 products in retaliation to Western sanctions