Indian shares fall ahead of US jobs data; financials lead slide

Indian shares fell on Friday, dragged by financials, on concerns of a prolonged high-interest rate regime, while investors awaited the key U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due later in the day.

The Nifty 50 index fell 1.05% to 17,411.30, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost 1.10% to 59,148.50, as of 10:19 a.m. IST.

All the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with high weightage financials and information technology (IT) losing 1.6% and 1%, respectively.

All 15 constituents of the financial index and 10 constituents of the IT index logged losses.

The broad-based decline in Indian shares comes after a sharp slide in global equities ahead of the highly anticipated February jobs data in the United States.

”The comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell come as a jolt for markets, which were assuming that the end of the rate-hiking cycle was near,” said Pramod Gubbi, co-founder of Marcellus Investment Managers.

”If the jobs data demonstrates further strength in labour markets, it will imply a reality check for markets globally.”

The expectations of 50 basis points (bps) increase in the federal funds target rate at the upcoming Fed meeting have now risen above 70%.

Adding to the worries in the Indian market is the return of selling pressure from foreign investors.

Forty-three of Nifty 50 constituents declined. Most Adani group stocks tumbled, with flagship Adani Enterprises falling over 5%. The stock was the top loser in the benchmark index.

Heavyweights HDFC twins and Larsen & Toubro shed over 2%. JSW Steel lost over 2% after Morgan Stanley reiterated an ”underweight” rating on the stock, citing muted demand and weakness in export markets.

Reliance Industries, which has a weightage of over 10% in the Nifty 50 index, fell over 1.5% and led the losses on the index.