NEW YORK, March 12 —  Major US stock indexes stumbled yesterday as tech and growth shares led a broad decline and investors worried about the conflict in Ukraine while attention turned to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.

At the end of a volatile week, indexes had opened higher after Russian President Vladimir Putin said there were “certain positive shifts” in talks with Ukraine, without providing any details, but stocks then faded during the session.

All 11 S&P 500 sectors ended down, with communication services falling 1.9 per cent and technology dropping 1.8 per cent.

“After we saw a bounce in the middle of the week, there is still too much uncertainty out there,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. “The market has had a tough couple of Mondays so I think the short-term players want to take some chips off the table.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 229.88 points, or 0.69 per cent, to 32,944.19, the S&P 500 lost 55.21 points, or 1.30 per cent, to 4,204.31 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 286.15 points, or 2.18 per cent, to 12,843.81.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell 2.9 per cent for the week, and logged its second straight weekly decline. The Dow fell for a fifth straight week.

Yesterday, declines in shares of megacap growth companies such as Apple Inc and Tesla Inc dragged on the S&P 500. Apple fell 2.4 per cent while Tesla dropped 5.1 per cent.

Meta Platforms shares fell 3.9 per cent as Russia opened a criminal case against the Facebook parent after the social network changed its hate speech rules to allow users to call for “death to the Russian invaders” in the context of the war with Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had reached a “strategic turning point” in the conflict with Russia, but Russian forces bombarded cities across the country and appeared to be regrouping for a possible assault on the capital Kyiv.

Regarding developments in the Ukraine crisis, “you just don’t know what you are going to see so there’s no reason to go into the weekend with a risk-on attitude,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Growth stocks also came under pressure as the US 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 2 per cent.

Stocks have struggled this year as concerns about the Russia-Ukraine crisis have deepened a sell-off initially fuelled by worries over higher bond yields as the Fed is expected to tighten monetary policy this year to fight inflation. The S&P 500 is down 11.8 per cent in 2022.

The US central bank is expected to raise rates at its March 15-16 meeting.

A survey showed US consumer sentiment fell more than expected in early March as gasoline prices surged to a record high in the aftermath of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.83-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.54-to-1 ratio favoured decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 13 new 52-week highs and 16 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 36 new highs and 274 new lows.

About 13 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges, compared with the 13.6 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions. — Reuters