Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Monday  as concerns about a global trade war turned investors cautious, with metals and information technology stocks coming under selling pressure.

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The Sensex fell 73.88 points to 35,548.26 and the Nifty slid 17.85 points to 10,799.85. In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices underperformed to lose 0.2 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively. 

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, turned negative. On the BSE, 1,737 stocks declined, 901 stocks rallied, while 158 stocks remained unchanged. 

"Market remained range-bound with a negative bias due to weak global cues amid concerns of US-China trade tensions. Mid and small caps under-performed while metal stocks slid the most due to concerns on rising supply and fall in price," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

Crude price is gradually consolidating while investors are awaiting OPEC and Russia meeting this week to decide on relaxation of supply cuts, he added.

On the BSE, Vedanta entered the benchmark 30-share Sensex. Dr Reddy's Labs exited the index.

Vedanta emerged the biggest loser in the Sensex pack with its shares plunging 2.70 per cent, while Tata Steel lost 1.28 per cent on nervous selling, triggered by increasing concerns over a full-fledged trade war between the US and China.

Other laggards include Kotak Bank (1.97 per cent), Bharti Airtel (1.67 per cent), Coal India (1.59 per cent), Axis Bank (1.33 per cent), and Infosys (1.09 per cent).

Among the winners, ICICI Bank was the top performer, spurting 3.61 per cent, followed by Tata Motors at 1.83 per cent.  

Sector-wise, the BSE metal index shed 1.72 per cent, followed by IT (0.80 per cent), teck (0.73 per cent), consumer durables (0.68 per cent), capital goods (0.58 per cent), infrastructure (0.44 per cent), FMCG (0.33 per cent), realty (0.13 per cent) and power (0.11 per cent).

Oil and gas, auto, PSU, banking and healthcare indices, however, ended in the positive zone, rising up to 1.25 per cent.

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Outperforming overall trend, shares of top oil marketing companies gained, led by HPCL 5.19 per cent, IOC 3.54 per cent and BPCL 2.70 per cent, on account of falling crude oil prices in global markets.

Overseas, US President Donald Trump on Friday slapped a 25 per cent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods, as he accused Beijing of intellectual property theft and unfair trade practices, triggering a full-fledged trade war between the  world's two largest economies.

Reacting to Trump's latest announcement, China too imposed "equal" tariffs on US products.

Globally, Brent crude was down 1.08 per cent to $72.65, while WTI oil fell 1.86 per cent to USD 63.85 a barrel in Asian trade today.

Elsewhere in Asia, most financial markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei are closed for public holidays. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.75 per cent, Singapore index shed 0.97 per cent and Korea fell 1.16 per cent.

European markets too were trading in the negative zone in the early session. Frankfurt was down 0.93 per cent and Paris CAC 40 too fell 0.92 per cent. London's FTSE shed 0.41 per cent in initial deals.

(With inputs from agencies)