Indian shares fell nearly 1.5% on Monday, heading towards their biggest single-day drop in four weeks as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data raised expectations that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates sooner than previously thought.

Blue chips favoured by foreign institutional investors, including ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro, led the fall.

Losses tracked falls in regional shares, with the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 1.17%.

“Markets are overpriced and valuations seem to be stretched. We advise our clients to be cautious and selective. We would be looking at the Jan-March quarter earnings to initiate any fresh buy from the current level”
- Daljeet S Kohli, IndiaNivesh

The broader NSE index was down 1.36% at 8,817.05 and the benchmark BSE index was lower 1.32% at 29,061.47, heading towards their biggest single-day fall since Feb. 9.

Falls came after data on Friday showed U.S. non-farm payrolls increased 295,000 last month, stronger than the 240,000 increase in jobs expected by analysts, and the unemployment rate hit a 6-1/2-year low of 5.5%.

Lenders fell with the Bank Nifty Index down 2 percent. ICICI Bank fell 2.8%, while HDFC Bank was down 1.6%.

Among other losers, Tata Consultancy Services fell 1.6% after India’s biggest software services exporter said on Thursday that fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be in line with last year’s trend.

Meanwhile, miners also declined with Sesa Sterlite falling 4.1% after global iron ore prices hit a six-year low.