BENGALURU: Indian shares ended at four-week lows on Thursday, as IT stocks lost ground for an eighth straight session, tracking a risk-off mood in global markets after the US Federal Reserve flagged likely rate hikes in March.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.97% lower at 17,110.15, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1% to 57,276.94. Both indexes fell as much as 2% on Thursday but recovered on firmer bank stocks amid the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts.

The top three losers on the Nifty 50 were technology stocks, leading to its IT sub-index shedding 3.5% to a five-month low and extending 2022 losses to 13.5%.

Indian shares suffered deep losses over the past week, erasing all the gains clocked this year, as prospects of tighter US monetary policy and tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine triggered heavy foreign selling.

European and Asian shares fell on Thursday after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the US central bank plans to steadily clamp down on credit this year to combat soaring inflation.