Key benchmark indices extended early losses and hit fresh intraday low in morning trade led by declines in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro. At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 400.84 points or 1.21% at 32,605.43. The Nifty 50 index was down 129.20 points or 1.28% at 9,985.55. The Sensex was trading below the psychological 33,000 mark. The Nifty was trading below the psychological 10,000 mark. Shares across the globe slumped amid concerns that a trade war could hit global growth.
The Sensex fell 471.44 points, or 1.43% at the day's low of 32,534.83 in morning trade, its lowest intraday level since 24 October 2017. The index fell 316.12 points, or 0.96% at the day's high of 32,690.15 in early trade. The Nifty fell 153.45 points, or 1.52% at the day's low of 9,961.30 in morning trade, its lowest intraday level since 11 October 2017. The index fell 101.90 points, or 1.01% at the day's high of 10,012.85 in early trade.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.71%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.88%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was quite weak. On BSE, 1,960 shares fell and 274 shares rose. A total of 103 shares were unchanged.
Among index pivotals, ICICI Bank (down 2.40%), Larsen & Toubro (L&T) (down 2.16%), Reliance Industries (down 1.21%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.98%), edged lower.
IT major Infosys was up 0.47%. The company announced that it has made a follow-on investment of $1.5 million through the Infosys Innovation Fund in Waterline Data Science, a leading provider of data discovery and data governance software. Infosys had made an initial investment of $4 million in the company in January 2018. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 22 March 2018.
Metal shares tumbled. Steel Authority of India (down 5.16%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.34%), Hindalco Industries (down 3.56%), Hindustan Zinc (down 3.55%), National Aluminium Company (down 3.55%), Vedanta (down 2.66%), JSW Steel (down 2.52%), Hindustan Copper (down 2.27%) and NMDC (down 1.86%), edged lower.
Bhushan Steel was down 1.52%. Tata Steel was down 3.11%. 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 0.43% at $3.0070 per pound on the COMEX.
Most FMCG shares declined. Hindustan Unilever (down 2.06%), Jyothy Laboratories (down 1.94%), Bajaj Corp (down 1.32%), Tata Global Beverages (down 1.14%), GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (down 0.71%), Nestle India (down 0.53%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care (down 0.51%) and Colgate Palmolive (India) (down 0.46%), edged lower. Britannia Industries (up 0.11%), Marico (up 0.11%), Dabur India (up 0.22%) and Godrej Consumer Products (up 0.88%), edged higher.
Overseas, Asian markets slumped on Friday, tracking sharp falls in US stocks, which took a hit on fears of a potential trade war. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was down 4.38%.
In China, Shanghai Composite was down 3.41%. 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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