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Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 made a gap-down start on Friday tracking weakness across global markets. Fears of steep rate hikes resurfaced globally after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the US central bank will move aggressively to curb inflation.

The Sensex fell as much as 666.9 points or 1.2 percent to 57,244.8 in the first few minutes of trade after a gap-down opening. The Nifty50 began the day at 17,196.1, down 196.6 points or 1.1 percent from its previous close.

Globally, news flow on the Russia-Ukraine war and rising COVID cases in parts of the world remained on investors' radar.

Equities in other Asian markets fell, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.9 percent in early hours. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.9 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.9 percent, South Korea's KOSPI 1.2 percent and Singapore's Straits Times 0.2 percent. China's Shanghai Composite, however, was up 0.5 percent.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.4 percent. On Thursday, the three main Wall Street indices reversed course and posted losses. The S&P 500 fell 1.5 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.1 percent and the technology stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite 2.1 percent.