India’s stock market benchmark fell sharply on Thursday as Dalal Street resumed trading after a one-day holiday, weighed down by losses in financials, IT, oil and gas and fast-moving consumer goods. Official data on India’s gross domestic product came below Wall Street’s expectations, released on Wednesday.

Both major indexes were down 1.5% in the first few minutes of trading. The Sensex fell 898.6 points to 58,638.5, its lowest point of the day, and the Nifty50 fell to 17,485.6, down 273.8 points from its previous close.

Globally, investors remain on the back foot amid concerns over a sharp rise in interest rates and the resilience of the world economy in the COVID era.

VK Vijayakumar, the chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said: “The Indian market has shown amazing resilience, while the US, Europe, and most large emerging markets have been weak. A major factor driving this outperformance is the return of FIIs to the Indian market.”

However, Vijayakumar added that investors must exercise caution as India’s high valuation and the global growth environment is not conducive to a sustained bull market.

Biocon shares fell after the USFDA issued 11 opinions on the company’s two locations in Bengaluru and six in Malaysia. The company said it would submit a Corrective and Preventive Action Plan (CAPA) to the US drug regulator within a specified time frame.

The company also said it does not expect the results of these inspections to affect its product offerings. Overall, market breadth favoured bulls, with 1,783 BSE stocks advancing and 982 declining. Shares of other Asian markets fell on Thursday after overnight weakness on Wall Street as fears of a sharp rise in interest rates in the COVID-era kept investors away. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.5%.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.5%. On Wednesday, the three major US stock indexes closed down 0.5-1%.