By Tanvi Mehta
(Reuters) - Indian shares declined on Thursday, dragged down by IT and pharma stocks, while caution prevailed as hopes waned for real progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks due later in the day.
Asian shares fell, while the U.S. dollar consolidated recent bumper gains after the Federal Reserve reaffirmed the outlook for more rate hikes. Reports that the Trump administration is considering executive action to restrict some Chinese companies' ability to sell telecoms equipment in the United States were a dampener.
"Sentiment has been on the lower side because of uncertainty with respect to trade talks... There's also stock-specific reaction, and IT stocks are volatile," said Anand James, chief market strategist, Geojit Financial Services.
The broader NSE Nifty was down 0.49 percent at 10,665.85, as of 0614 GMT.
The benchmark BSE Sensex slipped 0.29 percent at 35,075.51.
Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd slumped nearly 20 percent to hit their lowest in seven months and wiped out nearly 101.13 billion rupees ($1.52 billion) in market capitalisation after it posted a 73 percent plunge in profit on Wednesday.
Biocon Ltd's shares lost as much as 5.1 percent in their biggest daily percentage loss since Feb. 6, after its Bangalore sterile drug product facility got seven observations from U.S. FDA and six from an European regulator.
Nifty Pharma index dropped as much as 1.4 percent.
HCL Technologies Ltd continued to hurt sentiment, with the stock being the biggest drag on the NSE index. Its March-quarter profit missed analysts' estimate and weakened mood among other IT majors.
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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