BENGALURU: Indian stocks opened lower on Thursday after weak US economic data heightened recession worries, with persistent hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials creating an aversion for risky assets.

The Nifty 50 index was down 0.22% at 18,124.70 as of 9:18 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex declined 0.21% to 60,914.61.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd and Asian Paints were down 0.5% and 0.7% higher, respectively, ahead of their quarterly earnings results later in the day.

Investors will look for commentary on the impact of inflation on demand.

In early trading, all of 13 Nifty sectoral indexes were in the negative territory, with metal stocks declining the most with an over 1% fall.

Indian shares hit two-week highs boosted by metals, financials

US data showed retail sales fell the most in a year in December, while manufacturing output recorded its biggest drop in nearly two years.

Fed policymakers on Wednesday signalled they will push on with more interest rate hikes, even as inflation shows signs of having peaked and economic activity is slowing.

In broader markets, the MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 0.2%.