Indian equity benchmarks fell on Thursday as traders remained cautious with the US Federal Reserve raising rates by 75 basis points for the third consecutive meeting and signaled even more aggressive hikes than investors had envisioned in the months.

The Sensex fell 337.06 points or 0.57% to settle at 59,119.72. During the day, it plunged 624 points or 1.04% to 58,832.78. The NSE Nifty lost 88.55 points or 0.50% to end at 17,629.80.

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The broader indices ended in green with the BSE Mid cap index up 0.32% and the Small cap index up by 0.47%. The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.32%, Consumer Durables up by 0.96%, Auto up by 0.73%, Utilities up by 0.49% and Industrials was up by 0.46%, while Bankex down by 1.44%, PSU down by 0.50%, Energy down by 0.42%, Realty down by 0.34% and Metal was down by 0.32% were top the losing indices on BSE.

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Major laggards from the Sensex pack were Power Grid Corp down by 2.80%, HDFC Bank 2.18%, Axis Bank 2.09%, HDFC 1.69%, Bajaj Finserv 1.67%, ICICI Bank 1.37%, Ultratech Cement 1.24%, Kotak Mahindra 1.07%, Reliance 0.93% and Tech Mahindra 0.85%.

Among the gainers were Titan Company up by 2.73%, Hindustan Unilever up 2.64%, Asian Paints up 2.51%, Maruti Suzuki up 1.68%, and ITC up 1.19%.

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The rupee fell 90 paise to close at an all-time low of 80.86 against the US dollar after the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and its hawkish stance weighed on investor sentiments.

Asian markets settled mostly lower with the KOSPI Composite losing 0.63%, the Nikkei 225 falling 0.58%, the Shanghai Composite falling 0.27% and the Hang Seng declining 1.61%.

European equity markets were trading in the negative territory during mid-session deals. The US stock markets ended in the red on Wednesday.

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“Fed turned more hawkish than anticipated increasing its rate forecast to 4.4% by the end of 2022. The indication is that 125 bps more rate hikes can be expected in the next 2 policy meetings scheduled this year. Following this, the US dollar index rose above 111, depreciating INR to beyond 80.

“Indian stock market was able to sustain its resilience with limited cuts but if the rupee continues its weakness domestic market would turn less attractive for foreign investors in the short-term, effecting performance,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

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Brent crude, the international oil benchmark climbed 0.55% to $90.32 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 461.04 crore on Wednesday after two days of buying.