The stock market extended losses in the morning trade. At 10:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 282.24 points or 0.83% at 33,764.70. The Nifty 50 index declined 95.45 points or 0.91% at 10,362.90. The Sensex continued to languish below the 34,000 level after falling below that level in early trade. Weakness in Asian stocks weighed on sentiment on the domestic bourses. Metal and mining stocks dropped on fears that US President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on steel and aluminum could spark a trade war.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.66%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.71%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The broad market depicted weakness. There were more than two losers against every gainer on the BSE. 1,491 shares declined and 691 shares advanced. A total of 133 shares were unchanged.
Metal and mining stocks dropped on fears that US President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on steel and aluminum could spark a trade war. Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.42%), Steel Authority of India (down 4.32%), JSW Steel (down 3.68%), NMDC (down 3.6%), Hindalco Industries (down 3.25%), Hindustan Copper (down 2.75%), National Aluminium Company (down 2.53%), Tata Steel (down 2.13%), Vedanta (down 0.87%) and Hindustan Zinc (down 0.24%) edged lower.
Auto stocks declined. Tata Motors (down 2.49%), Bajaj Auto (down 1.54%), Ashok Leyland (down 1.28%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.08%), Eicher Motors (down 0.59%) and Maruti Suzuki India (down 0.54%) dropped.
Hero MotoCorp dropped 1.01%. The company's two-wheeler sales rose 20% to 6.29 lakh units in February 2018 over February 2017. Riding on robust demand for its popular range of two-wheelers, Hero MotoCorp delivered a strong sales performance in February 2018, thereby further consolidating its dominant market leadership. This sales performance by the company has been driven by strong growth in scooters, in addition to the continued momentum across the range of its motorcycle brands. The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 1 March 2018.
TVS Motor Company rose 0.18% at Rs 678.05 after the company's total sales surged 37% to 2.90 lakh units in February 2018 over February 2017. Total exports grew by 53.2% to 58,564 units. The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 1 March 2018. The stock market was closed on Friday, 2 March 2018 on account of Holi.
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Meanwhile, Markit Economics will unveil the result of a monthly survey on the performance of India's services sector in February 2018 at 10:30 IST today, 5 March 2018. The Nikkei Services PMI in India increased to 51.7 in January, from 50.9 in the prior month.
Among key domestic events, in a big morale booster to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the centre, the BJP along with its ally Indigenous People's Front Of Tripura has secured a comfortable majority by bagging 43 out of 59 seats in the recently held assembly elections in Tripura. In Nagaland, the ruling Naga Peoples Front (NPF) emerged as the single largest party, securing 27 out of 59 seats. The BJP has secured 12 seats. In a rude shock, the Congress party has been wiped out from Tripura and Nagaland, having failed to secure a single seat in these two states. In Meghalaya, the Congress has emerged as the single largest party, securing 21 out of 59 assembly seats, followed by the National People's Party bagging 19 seats. The counting of votes for the assembly elections took place over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the developments in the Budget Session of Parliament will be closely watched. Both the Houses of Parliament which were adjourned on 9 February 2018 for a recess, resumed today, 5 March 2018. The session is expected to be stormy with the Congress and other opposition parties set to raise the issue of multi-crore financial scams involving public-sector banks in both the Houses. The second part of the session would primarily see discussions on the demand for grants for various ministries.
Overseas, Asian stocks edged lower as Chinese leaders headed into an annual parliament meeting. China's National People's Congress meeting kicked off with Premier Li Keqiang announcing 2018 growth target for the country at around 6.5%. Among economic data, the China's Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PMI) dipped to 54.2 in February from 54.7 in the previous month.
US stocks closed well off session lows on Friday, 2 March 2018, helped by a sharp rise in health care shares. Stocks traded sharply lower earlier in the session on fears that President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on steel and aluminum could spark a trade war.
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