Sensex, Nifty fall over 1 percent on weak global cues; IT, financials drag

By Arnab Paul

(Reuters) - Indian shares fell over one percent on Friday, tracking broader Asia, as investors remained jittery amid uncertain global cues on the possibility of a U.S. government shutdown and further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve next year.

Markets took a dip on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve largely retained plans to increase interest rates despite risks to growth while the sentiment also soured after U.S. President Donald Trump refused to sign legislation to fund the government unless he got money for a border wall, risking a partial federal shutdown on Saturday [MKTS/GLOB]

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.07 percent.

Consolidation continued across domestic markets after a seven day rally ended on Thursday. The broader NSE index gained 4.6 percent between Dec. 11 and Dec. 19.

"Generally, we do see some profit booking towards the end of the year and this time, especially the last couple of days, we have seen Indian markets react to global news," said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"This could add to some volatility but overall we expect Nifty to be rangebound between 10,700 and 11,200 in the short term."

The broader Nifty was down 1.24 percent at 10,816 as of 0628 GMT, while the benchmark Sensex was trading 1.17 percent lower at 36,006.91.

Both the indexes are on track to record a 0.15 percent gain in the week.

Financials and IT stocks were among the top drags with Infosys Ltd's counter trading 2.3 percent lower. The software services exporter appointed Bharti Airtel Ltd's Nilanjan Roy as its chief financial officer after market hours on Thursday.

Shares of ICICI Bank Ltd were down 2.2 percent, while those of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-owned index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd were trading 1.7 percent lower.

Indian Oil Corp Ltd's stock was the top percentage loser on the NSE index, falling 5.5 percent. Stock was trading ex-dividend.

(Reporting by Arnab Paul in BENGALURU; Editing by Rashmi Aich)