Sensex sinks over 300 points, Nifty falls 67 points in early trade; metal, auto, banking stocks drag

The BSE Sensex dropped over 300 points in early trade on Friday tracking losses in metal, auto, IT and banking stocks. The broader Nifty too fell 67.45 points or 0.61 percent to 10,961.95 in morning trade. The 30-share index pared some opening losses to trade 248.25 points or 0.67 percent lower at 37,063.28 at 0930 hours.

Sensex down by 301.38 points, currently at 37,010.15. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/R1kSXCOL70

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2019

In the previous session on Wednesday, the 30-share index settled 353.37 points or 0.96 percent higher at 37,311.53. The broader NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,000-mark, jumping 103.55 points or 0.95 percent to close at 11,029.40. The stock market was closed on Thursday on account of Independence Day. Top losers in the Sensex pack in early trade included Vedanta, HCL Tech, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, TechM, SBI and Infosys, shedding up to 2.63 percent. While, Yes Bank, ONGC, ITC, Bajaj Finance and HUL rose up to 1.37 percent. According to experts, rising concerns of an economic slowdown, weak earnings and global trade volatility has been weighing on investor sentiment. [caption id=“attachment_4472957” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi comprehensively reviewed the state of the economy with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as his government scrambled for solutions to tackle a fast-spreading slowdown in various sectors, which is eroding wealth and causing job losses. India’s economic growth has slowed to 6.8 percent in 2018-19 - the slowest pace since 2014-15, consumer confidence is waning and foreign direct investment has plateaued. International trade and currency war is further aggravating the problem, PTI said. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net of Rs 1,614.63 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 1,619.82 crore, provisional data showed. Asian shares head for weekly losses Asian shares were heading for weekly losses on Friday as conflicting messages on the Sino-US trade war only added to worries for the global economy, while talk of aggressive central bank stimulus drove bond yields to fresh lows, Reuters said. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he believed China wanted to make a trade deal and that the dispute would be fairly short. Beijing on Thursday vowed to counter the latest tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods but called on the United States to meet it halfway on a potential trade deal. With no settlement in sight, investors chose discretion over valour. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.17 percent, to be down 1.4 percent for the week. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.5 percent, making a loss of 1.8 percent on the week, while commodity-exposed Australia was heading for a weekly drubbing of 2.7 percent. E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 did rise 0.24%, but were still off 2.2 percent on the week so far. Overnight, the Dow rose 0.39 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.09 percent. The spectacular rally in bonds remained the main investor focus. Yields on 30-year paper hit an all-time low of 1.916 percent to be down 27 basis points for the week, the sharpest such decline since mid-2012. That meant investors were willing to lend the government money for three decades for less than the overnight rate. Such is the gloom that surprisingly strong US retail sales came and went with no impact on the bond rally. Analysts have cautioned that the current bond market is a different beast than in the past and might not be sending a true signal on a recession. “The bond market may have got it wrong this time, but we would not dismiss the latest recession signals on grounds of distortions,” said Simon MacAdam, global economist at Capital Economics. “Rather, it is of some comfort for the world economy that unlike all previous US yield curve inversions, the Fed has already begun loosening monetary policy this time.” --With  inputs from agencies