India in a highly volatile session

India in a highly volatile session because of fresh selling by funds and retail investors, Indian equities edged down further on Friday.

Fears of an interest rate hike due to rising inflation dampened the domestic sentiment.

At 2.01 pm, the 30-share BSE index, which lost nearly 352 points in the previous two sessions, fell further by 147 points, or 0.91 per cent, to 15,999. Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index shed 49 points, or 1.02 per cent, to 4,790.

The IT and Auto indices on the BSE gained 0.18 per cent each. While Realty, Metal, and Power were trading down by 2.16 per cent.

Market experts said the trading sentiment was weak as participants anticipated another hike in key short-term interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India to rein in inflation, which inched closer to double digits at 9.80 per cent for the week ended August 13, up from 9.03 per cent in the previous week.

A weakening trend on other Asian bourses following overnight losses on Wall Street also cast a shadow over the domestic market, they said.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down by 0.43 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei Index shed 0.07 per cent in morning trade today. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 1.51 per cent in Thursday's session.