Indian equity benchmarks declined following a drop in global equities triggered by a hawkish speech from the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell.

The S&P BSE Sensex re-scaled 60,000 points after falling below the same level at open on Wednesday. The index rose to these levels after nine trading sessions on Monday.

Asian markets tumbled, while Treasury yields pushed higher and the dollar extended gains in trade. On Tuesday, all the major U.S. benchmarks slid more than 1%, with the S&P 500 Index falling the most in two weeks.

During a Senate hearing, the Federal Reserve’s chief signalled officials are ready to speed up the pace of tightening and take rates to higher levels should inflation keep running hot.

As of 12:27 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex was down 205 points, or 0.34%, at 60,019.74, while the NSE Nifty 50 was 57 points, or 0.32%, lower at 17,654.10.

Adani Enterprises Ltd., IT Ltd., and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. were positively contributing to the NSE Nifty 50.

Whereas, Infosys Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. were dragging the index.

Shares of all Adani Group companies were mixed in early trade; however, the stocks pared losses and advanced as the benchmarks were trading flat.

The Adani Group said its promoters have prepaid debt worth of Rs 7,374 crore, or $902 million, backed by shares of four group companies, ahead of its latest maturity in April 2025.

The National Stock Exchange has also moved Adani Enterprises Ltd. out of the short-term additional surveillance measure.

The broader market indices were trading marginally higher; S&P BSE MidCap was up 0.03%, whereas S&P BSE SmallCap was higher by 0.10%.

Ten of the 20 sectors compiled by BSE declined, while the other ten advanced in trade.

The market was split between buyers and sellers. About 1,645 stocks rose, 1,663 declined, and 129 remained unchanged on the BSE.