Metals, IT drag Indian shares lower amid sell-off in global peers

Shares fell on Friday, dragged by metals and information technology stocks, and tracking a sell-off in global peers after weaker-than-expected US data sparked concerns of a slowdown in the world's largest economy.

The NSE Nifty 50 fell 1.08 per cent to 24,740.1 points as of 10:01 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex shed 1.02 per cent to 81,029.82.

Asian markets fell, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing 2.3 per cent.

Wall Street equities slid overnight after weak US manufacturing and labour market data sparked fears of a worsening economic outlook.

Investors now await the nonfarm payroll data due later in the day to gauge the health of the U.S. labour market.

Sentiment has turned nervous in the United States on the possibility of slower growth after Thursday's data, two analysts said.

"The drop in Indian markets shows that we cannot stay decoupled from global markets for long," Sameet Chavan, head of research at Angel One said.

"This profit booking could continue as momentum indicators signal that markets are near overbought territory."

The relative strength index of the Nifty 50 index settled above 70 for the last five sessions, indicating that it may be overbought. The benchmarks have been hitting record highs over the last several weeks.

On the day, all the 13 major sectors logged losses.

Metals shed 2.6 per cent, as weak economic data from the U.S. and contraction in industrial production in top consumer China sparked demand concerns.

IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., lost 1.6 per cent.

The auto index fell 1.9 per cent with 14 of the 15 constituents declining, as brokerages flagged weakness in the passenger vehicle and the medium-heavy commercial vehicle segments.

The broader, more domestically focussed small- and mid-caps dropped 1.3 per cent each.

Food delivery company Zomato gained about 13 per cent after beating June quarter profit estimates.