Market Wrap International:

The global equity indices have had little relief on Wednesday and suffered yet another session as macro data, uncertainty on debt impasse, minutes of FOMC meeting and geopolitical tension remained in the limelight. In the U.S, the negotiations on extending the debt ceiling have yielded little ground so far. The treasury yields in the U.S moved higher once again, recording a sixth straight session. Oil prices were strongly boosted by oil inventory data, the rest of commodity prices weakened. The S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.

In Europe, the above expected inflation print in the U.K and latest results of consumer expectation survey in Germany brought back concerns on higher interest rates at a time when the data on economic growth is already showing signs of weakness. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell by 1.8% on Wednesday. Risk-off sentiments were evident in the market.  Financials, tech and consumers were the major drags. The country level indices too headed in the same direction and closed with 1.7-1.9 losses.

In Asia, major indices continued the slide with new infection data in China and geopolitical tension. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite were particularly worst hit and declined by 1.6% and 1.3% on Wednesday.  The number of infections from the new omicron variant are expected to peak in June, raising risk of disruption in economic activity. Indices in India, Korea and Taiwan moved in a narrow range while Topix in Japan fell by 0.4%.