BENGALURU: Indian shares fell on Wednesday to snap a four-day winning streak as worries over inflation resurfaced amid surging oil prices, while domestic explorers rose in late trade after the country approved a plan to give marketing freedom to sell crude.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.32% lower to 15,799.10 and the S&P BSE Sensex slipped 0.3% to 53,026.97. The rupee dropped 0.25% to a record low of 78.97 per dollar.

Global stock markets slipped for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, while oil prices gained for a fourth straight session on fears of tight supplies.

Interest rate and inflation worries have kept the Nifty and Sensex on course for their worst month since the pandemic-hit March of 2020. The blue-chip indexes had lost nearly 9% this year.

Indian rupee hits record lows despite central bank intervention

Indian equity markets are likely to see their biggest foreign fund outflows this month since March 2020.

Overseas investors had offloaded a net $6.29 billion worth of equities this month, as of June 28, compared with a net selling of $4.63 billion in the same period last month, according to Refinitiv data.

Shares of crude producers Oil India and Oil & Natural Gas Corp ended 4.8% and 3.2% higher, respectively, after the India cabinet approved deregulation of sale of domestically produced crude oil.

On Wednesday, the Nifty Bank index slid 1.1%, while Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable firm, helped plug some losses in the market with a 2.1% gain.

Tejas Networks jumped 7.5% after Japanese chipmaker Renesas said it would work with the company on wireless network solutions including 5G.

IT services firm Route Mobile fell 6.6% as investors were disappointed at the size of company’s buyback and the open market route.