Share markets in India have extended early losses and are presently trading deep in the red.

Taking the recent fall to the third straight day, benchmark indices extended losses amid persisting concerns over inflation and Fed rate hikes.

Photo by Yiorgos Ntrahas on Unsplash

The US Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy at a much faster pace than thought a month ago to tame persistently high inflation, now viewed by economists polled by Reuters as the biggest threat to the US economy over the coming year.

Encouraged by apparent lower severity of the Omicron variant, governments and central banks around the world are attempting to push their economies back into some version of normality. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said recently he sees an economy that 'functions right through these waves of Covid-19'.

US benchmark 10-year note yields rose to a two-year high of 1.9% on Wednesday before pausing and were last seen at 1.86%.

Back to Indian markets, the BSE Sensex lost the psychological mark of 60,000 while the NSE Nifty was trading below 17,700 levels.

Presently, the BSE Sensex is trading down by 925 points, down 1.5%. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading down by 265 points.

The selling is seen across major sectors, particularly in the IT, energy and finance stocks.

The fall on broader markets is less severe. The BSE Midcap index is down 0.5%, and the BSE Smallcap index is down 0.2%.

Private lenders major Bajaj Finserv and HDFC were among the top losers today, down 5% and 3%, respectively.

Infosys, Dr Reddy's Lab, Hindustan Unilever, HCL Technologies and TCS were the other major losers, down over 2% each.

Power Grid, however, continued to trade firm, up 3.4%. Bharti Airtel and Asian Paints were the other notable gainers.

Asian share markets broke a five-day slide, pushing higher today as China underscored its diverging monetary and economic picture by cutting benchmark mortgage rates.

Crude oil prices slipped as investors took profits following a month-long rally in prices, but strong demand and short-term supply disruptions continue to support prices close to their highest levels since late 2014.