BENGALURU: Indian shares extended losses to a third session in a row on Tuesday, led by a slide in information technology stocks on receding bets of early US rate cuts and worries over the conflict in the Middle East.

The NSE Nifty 50 shed 0.56% to close at 22,147.90, while the S&P BSE Sensex settled 0.62% lower at 72,943.68.

Since notching record closing highs on April 10, the benchmarks have lost 2.7% each over the past three sessions, which is also their longest losing streak this year.

Asian markets declined while safe-haven assets like gold and the US dollar garnered investors’ interest after Iran launched explosive drones and missiles at Israel on Saturday.

“Investors remain concerned about the possible next steps in Mideast conflict,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

US-rate sensitive IT stocks dropped 2.58% to a four-month low, the most among the major sectors, after stronger-than-expected US retail sales data added to fading expectations of an early Federal Reserve rate cut.

Infosys lost 3.66%, the most on the Nifty 50. It was followed by LTIMindtree, which lost 3.16% after the IT services company said two top-level executives had left.

High-weightage financials fell 0.22%. IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv shed 3.18% and 2.31%, respectively, and were also among the top five Nifty losers.