(Reuters) - Indian shares could fall on Friday on concerns of a prolonged high-interest rate regime as investors await February U.S. jobs data due later in the day to see if the Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy has managed to cool down the economy.
India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were down 0.79% at 17,478, as of 7:35 a.m. IST.
Wall Street indexes closed lower on Thursday ahead of hotly anticipated February jobs data. A strong jobs report is indicative of strength in the economy and could set the stage for an aggressive rate hike by Fed at its meeting on March 22.
The expectations of a 50 basis points (bps) increase in the federal funds target rate at the upcoming Fed meeting have now risen above 70%.
Asian markets fell on Friday, with the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan losing 1.60%.
Indian shares posted their biggest one-day drop in over two weeks on Thursday, snapping a three-session winning streak. The Nifty 50 has remained little changed so far in this week.
Indian equities are likely to remain rangebound ahead of the Fed's policy decision, three analysts said.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) snapped their four-session buying streak and offloaded a net 5.62 billion rupees ($68.49 million) of equities on Thursday.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** IRB Infrastructure: Co reports 27% Y/Y rise in toll collection to 3.52 billion rupees in February.
** NBCC: Co receives 2.3 billion rupees work order to build a new campus for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
** Dredging Corporation: Co wins 640 million rupees annual maintenance dredging contract from Southern Naval Command Kochi, for FY23.
** PNC Infratech: Co declared lowest bidder for two highway projects of 20.04 billion rupees.
** PSP Projects: Co receives 1.23 billion rupees of work orders for two projects in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
** Zydus Lifesciences: Co gets final approval from U.S. drug regulator for Erythromycin tablets.