By Aby Jose Koilparambil
REUTERS - Indian shares swung between gains and losses on Friday as markets looked to settle down after the U.S. Federal Reserve issued an outlook that was more hawkish than expected, though indexes were still poised to post their biggest weekly fall in a month.
As the dollar stood near a 14-year peak, global markets continued to adjust to the idea of higher U.S. interest rates after the Fed raised rates on Wednesday for the first time in a year and projected three more increases in 2017, up from two forecast in September.
Indian stock markets look more vulnerable than other emerging markets due to the ongoing demonetisation drive and its possible heavy impact on corporate performances.
"The markets have become highly rangebound in the last one month or so. The Nifty is hardly moving in a 100-point range and the Sensex is moving in a 500-point range. This tight range will continue for some time," said Kunj Bansal, chief investment officer, Centrum Wealth Management Ltd.
"The major triggers - the RBI credit policy and the US Fed decision - are over. Now, the next earliest trigger would be the earnings season, starting in the second week of January. Pending that, the market will remain rangebound."
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The Nifty was down 0.12 percent at 8,143.20 as of 0536 GMT, and has declined 1.5 percent so far this week, its biggest since the week ended on Nov. 18.
The Sensex was 0.05 percent lower at 26,404.62, and has shed 0.95 percent so far this week.
Among decliners, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd's shares fell as much as 4.34 percent to a nine-month low as the company was named in a lawsuit alleging it colluded with other drugmakers to fix prices of two commonly used drugs in the United States.
Other drug makers also fell on lingering concerns about potential action from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd fell as much as 2.52 percent, while Alkem Laboratories Ltd declined up to 1.5 percent.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
