Share market equity indexes Sensex and Nifty closed over 1 per cent lower on Friday and registered their worst week since November, as investors fretted that fast-paced interest rate hikes to fight surging inflation would slow global economic growth.

The S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.56 per cent or 866.65 points to 54,835.58. The NSE Nifty 50 index was down 1.63 per cent or 271.40 points at 16,411.25 at close, with most of its sub-indexes in the negative territory.

The rupee weakened as much as 0.9 per cent to Rs 76.97 against the dollar earlier in the session, its lowest level since March 7. It settled at 76.91.

The benchmark indexes also posted a fourth consecutive weekly fall, weighed down by a surprise interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of India, foreign fund outflows and mixed corporate earnings results.

Foreign investors have net sold Indian equities worth $635 million so far this week, compared with $881 million offloaded in the same period last week, according to Refinitiv data.

Nifty’s metal, IT, finance and realty were among the top losers, declining between 2 per cent and 3.5 per cent.

Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company, fell 0.8 per cent. The oil-to-retail conglomerate is due to report quarterly results later in the day.

Agrochemical maker UPL fell 4.4 per cent. The company said fire at one of its plants at Ankleshwar in the state of Gujarat injured five people and UPL was investigating the cause.

Global stocks fell on Friday as markets anticipated more US rate hikes, while Asian peers declined on fears about the hit to growth from China’s zero-covid policy.