Sensex, Nifty Decline On Hawkish Fed Remarks

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell notably on Thursday as investors reacted to hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, mixed earnings results from mega-cap U.S. technology companies and the latest updates from U.S.-China trade negotiations.

The Fed lowered interest rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, but Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that a further reduction in rates in December is "not a foregone conclusion."

U.S tech earnings proved to be a mixed bag, with Google parent Alphabet beating Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue, while Meta reported a nearly $16 billion one-time charge in the third quarter related to President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

Microsoft's massive AI spending also deepened investor fears about the costs of sustaining the boom.

On the trade front, U.S. President Donald Trump said after a keenly watched meeting in South Korea that he would reduce tariffs on China from 57 percent to 47 percent for one year, in exchange for Beijing resuming purchases of U.S. soybeans, continuing exports of rare earth elements, and tightening controls on the illicit fentanyl trade.

Analysts said it's nothing more than a temporary truce and doesn't mark a real end to the trade war between the two countries.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended down 592.67 points, or 0.70 percent, at 84,404.46 amid the October derivatives expiry.

The broader NSE Nifty index fell 176.05 points, or 0.68 percent, to 25,877.85. Both indexes closed near record highs on Wednesday.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes ended narrowly mixed, showing little change.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,287 shares falling while 1,877 shares advanced and 158 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid Corp and Bharti Airtel all fell over 1 percent.