Key benchmark indices edged lower in early trade tracking weakness in Asian stocks. At 9:18 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 164.52 points or 0.48% at 33,882.42. The Nifty 50 index declined 65.50 points or 0.63% at 10,392.85. The Sensex slipped below the 34,000 level.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.29%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index dropped 0.21%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
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.
Closer home, the breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 819 shares declined and 477 shares advanced. A total of 92 shares were unchanged.
Reliance Industries (RIL) was off 0.39% at Rs 944. RIL's step-down subsidiary Reliance Brands (RBL) has completed acquisition of additional 5.3% stake in equity share capital of Genesis Luxury Fashion (GLF) for a cash consideration of Rs 35.39 crore. With this acquisition, the stake of RBL in GLF's equity share capital has gone up to 46.6%. 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.
RBL is a subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures, one of the retail arms of RIL and is partner of choice for various international brands. RBL, inter alia, held 41.3% investment in equity shares of GLF.
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Hero MotoCorp dropped 0.91% at Rs 3,546.70. 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.
Wipro was down 0.43%. The company announced the expansion of its Live Workspace suite of offerings, providing enterprises with an anywhere, anytime, any device digital workplace. This will allow enterprises to offer their employees a choice when deciding which tools enable them to be more productive, creative and collaborative. The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 1 March 2018.
Coal India declined 1.17% at Rs 309.15. The company announced the provisional production and offtake of the company and its subsidiaries for the month of February 2018. The company achieved 89% of the targeted coal production at 54.46 million tonnes in February 2018. Actual offtake was 96% of the targeted offtake at 49.97 million tonnes in February 2018. The announcement was made after market hours on Thursday, 1 March 2018.
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, resumes today, 5 March 2018. The second part of Parliament's Budget Session is likely to begin on a stormy note 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.
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