The market tumbled due to weak global equities after US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on Chinese goods, stoking fears of a trade war. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, fell 409.73 points or 1.24% to 32,596.54, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index fell 116.70 points or 1.15% to 9,998.05, as per the provisional closing data. The Sensex provisionally ended below the psychological 33,000 mark. The Nifty provisionally ended below the psychological 10,000 mark after flirting with that level in the intraday.
Global trade war tensions spooked investors. US President Donald Trump ordered at least $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports and China announced plans for reciprocal tariffs on $3 billion of imports from the US.
Key indices tumbled after opening with a negative bias. However, stocks cut losses in mid-afternoon trade. The Sensex lost 522.43 points, or 1.58% at the day's low of 32,483.84 in afternoon trade, its lowest intraday level since 23 October 2017. The index fell 286.24 points, or 0.87% at the day's high of 32,720.03 in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty fell 162.85 points, or 1.61% at the day's low of 9,951.90 in early afternoon trade, its lowest intraday level since 6 October 2017. The index fell 87.05 points, or 0.86% at the day's high of 10,027.70 in mid-afternoon trade.
Broader market witnessed major selling pressure. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally fell 1.36%. The BSE Small-Cap index provisionally fell 1.54%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was quite weak. On BSE, 2,093 shares fell and 602 shares rose. A total of 167 shares were unchanged.
The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3379.49 crore, compared with the turnover of Rs 3509.35 crore registered during the previous trading session.
Metal shares tumbled. Steel Authority of India (down 6.58%), Vedanta (down 5.31%), Hindalco Industries (down 5.02%), Hindustan Copper (down 4.68%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.61%), Hindustan Zinc (down 4.27%), National Aluminium Company (down 3.84%) and NMDC (down 0.62%), edged lower. JSW Steel rose 0.02%.
Bhushan Steel rose 5.06%. Tata Steel fell 2.33%. Tata Steel announced before trading hours today, 23 March 2018, that it has been declared as the successful resolution applicant by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Bhushan Steel (BSL) on 22 March 2018, subject to obtaining necessary regulatory approvals, including approval from the NCLT and the Competition Commission of India. Tata Steel has accepted the Letter of Intent for BSL under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 (IBC).
Meanwhile, copper price edged lower in the global commodities markets. High Grade Copper for May 2018 delivery was currently down 0.46% at $3.006 per pound on the COMEX.
State Bank of India fell 2.77%. The bank announced during trading hours today, 23 March 2018, that it received an approval from the Government of India (GoI) to increase the paid up capital by way of preferential allotment of equity shares to Gol to the extent of Rs 8800 crore. Earlier, the bank's shareholders had passed the special resolution for issuing equity shares to Gol on preferential basis.
State-run NTPC fell 0.23%. The company announced during trading hours today, 23 March 2018, that it has begun extraction of coal from its Dulanga coal mine located in Odisha. In a separate announcement during trading hours today, 23 March 2018, NTPC said that 1st unit of 800 MW of Lara Super Thermal Power Project (Stage-I: 2x800 MW) has been commissioned on 23 March 2018. With this, the total commissioned capacity of NTPC and NTPC group has become 46100 MW and 52991 MW respectively.
Overseas, European market were trading lower due to the mounting trade war jitters. The Bank of England (BoE) said Thursday that a majority of officials on its nine-member Monetary Policy Committee agreed to keep the central bank's benchmark interest rate steady this month at 0.5%.
Asian markets slumped on Friday, tracking sharp falls in US stocks, which took a hit on fears of a trade war. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index fell 4.51%.
In China, Shanghai Composite index fell 3.39%. China, as a retaliation to US President Donald Trump's tariff plans, announced for reciprocal tariffs on $3 billion of imports from the US. Such imports include US pork, recycled aluminium, steel pipes, fruits and wine. China will also pursue legal action against the US at the World Trade Organization in response to the US planned tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, and called for dialog to resolve the dispute. This is a response to Trump's tariffs on Chinese imports to compensate for alleged intellectual property abuses by China.
US stocks fell sharply on Thursday, with major indices suffering their worst day in weeks as the threat of a trade war with China sparked a widespread selloff.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum on Thursday that would impose retaliatory tariffs on at least $50 billion in Chinese imports. The new measures are designed to penalise China for trade practices that the Trump administration says involve stealing American companies' intellectual property. They will primarily target certain products in the technology sector where China holds an advantage over the US. Investors are concerned that protectionist trade policies could be met with retaliatory measures by major trading partners, and that a trade war could contribute to inflation in the economy.
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