Domestic stocks logged sharp losses, mirroring weak global stocks, amid escalating trade war between China and the US. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, lost 351.56 points or 1.05% at 33,019.07, as per the provisional closing data. The Nifty 50 index lost 116.60 points or 1.14% at 10,128.40, as per the provisional closing data. The Sensex provisionally settled a tad above the psychological 33,000 mark after falling below that level in intraday trade.
Overseas, US index futures, European and most Asian stocks dropped after China today, 4 April 2018 reportedly announced additional tariffs on $50 billion of US goods. China will impose additional tariffs of 25% on 106 US goods including soybeans, autos, chemicals, some types of aircraft and corn products, among other agricultural goods.
On the macro front, the service sector in China continued to expand in March, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Caixin revealed with a services PMI score of 52.3, down from 54.2 in February.
Trading in US index futures indicated that the Dow could slide 460 points at the opening bell today, 4 April 2018. Worries about global trade war have persisted, after the Trump administration put global tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, but then exempted most countries from those levies.
US stocks closed higher yesterday, 3 April 2018 as Tesla, Amazon and other tech companies rebounded after recent sharp losses and as investors looked forward to earnings season.
The Trump administration yesterday, 3 April 2018 announced 25% tariffs on $50 billion of annual imports from China, covering around 1,300 industrial technology, transport and medical products.
Back home, trading for the day began on a quiet note as stocks traded with small gains in early trade. Key benchmark indices picked up steam in morning trade to hit fresh intraday high. Stocks pared gains in mid-morning trade. Indices reversed trend in afternoon trade. Stocks traded weak in mid-afternoon trade. Fresh sell-off pulled the key equity benchmarks to intraday low in late trade.
The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index provisionally fell down 0.92%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index provisionally fell 1.01%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.
The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1,442 shares declined and 1,191 shares rose. A total of 151 shares were unchanged. Breadth was strong till early afternoon trade. It turned negative from positive in mid-afternoon trade.
Axis Bank (down 2.61%), L&T (down 2.52%) and NTPC (down 2.33%) edged lower from the Sensex pack.
Metal and mining stocks fell as copper prices dropped in global commodity markets. Vedanta (down 4.29%), JSW Steel (down 2.89%), Steel Authority of India (Sail) (down 3.4%), Jindal Steel & Power (down 4.86%), Hindalco Industries (down 3.68%), NMDC (down 2.27%), Hindustan Zinc (down 0.89%) and Hindustan Copper (down 2.29%) edged lower. National Aluminium Company (up 2.94%) rose.
Tata Steel lost 3.51%. The board of directors at the meeting held yesterday, 3 April 2018 decided to defer the matter on issuance of unsecured debt securities on private placement basis. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 3 April 2018.
Copper edged lower in the global commodities market. High Grade Copper for May 2018 delivery was currently off 1.86% at $3.0065 per pound on the COMEX.
Tata Motors rose 3.48% on reports Jaguar Land Rover India reported strong sales in the year ended March 2018. According to media reports, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India reported 83.33% jump in total sales to 4,609 units in the year ended March 2018 over the year ended March 2017. JLR India plans to bring 10 new products in India in 2018-2019, reports added.
Traders and investors are awaiting the outcome of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting. The RBI's two-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting began today, 4 April 2018 for the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2018-2019. The resolution of the MPC will be announced at 14:30 IST tomorrow, 5 April 2018. As per reports, the central bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged in the first monetary policy review of the current fiscal year, amid a gradual recovery in growth and easing inflation.
In its last meeting on 7 February 2018, RBI decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 6%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 5.75%, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 6.25%.
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