Weakness persisted on the bourses in afternoon trade. At 13:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 207.08 points or 0.58% at 35,601.87. The Nifty 50 index was down 60 points or 0.56% at 10,664.40.
After opening lower, key indices extended losses and hit fresh intraday low in mid-morning trade. The market exhibited cautious sentiment fearing an escalation in tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Thursday's Pulwama terror attack. The devastating terror attack last week in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir took lives of at least 40 CRPF personnel.
Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.73%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.57%.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 822 shares rose and 1552 shares fell. A total of 132 shares were unchanged.
Yes Bank (down 2.61%), TCS (down 2.51%), Asian Paints (down 2.13%), Coal India (down 1.48%) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.39%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
ONGC (up 1.59%), Axis Bank (up 1.41%), Tata Steel (up 1.29%), Vedanta (up 0.88%) and IndusInd Bank (up 0.61%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.
Larsen & Toubro rose 0.62% after the company announced that L&T Construction has won a mega contract for design and construction of a major airport. L&T Construction is a brand of L&T. The announcement was made during market hours today, 18 February 2019.
On the economic front, India's merchandise exports rose 3.7% to $26.36 billion in January 2019 over a year ago. Meanwhile, merchandise imports was flat at $41.09 billion. The trade deficit for January 2019 was at $14.73 billion as against the deficit of $15.67 billion in January 2018.
Overseas, Asian shares edged higher on Monday, with trade talks between the US and China set to continue in Washington this week after high-level meetings in Beijing concluded on Friday.
US stock indices surged on Friday, 15 February 2019, buoyed by growing optimism that the US and China can strike a trade truce ahead of the March 1 deadline. US stock market will be closed on Monday in observance of the Presidents Day holiday.
In political news, tensions rose in Washington D.C. when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency citing a humanitarian crisis at the Southern Border. In economic news, the Empire State manufacturing index rose 4.9 points in February to 8.8 and industrial production fell 0.6% in January, the first decline in eight months.
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