Sensex sheds 410 points, Nifty ends below 10,000 on global trade war fears

23 Mar 2018

3:30 pm Market Closing: Benchmark indices closed sharply lower as global stocks hit badly due to trade war concerns.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 409.73 points or 1.24 percent at 32,596.54 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 116.75 points or 1.15 percent to 9,998.05.

More than three shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Axis Bank, SBI, Vedanta, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, L&T and Maruti Suzuki declined up to 5 percent.

HCL Technologies rallied over 2.5 percent and Tech Mahindra gained 0.5 percent.

Nifty Midcap was down nearly 300 points.

Union Bank, IDBI Bank, Bank of India, Andhra Bank, OBC, Allahabad Bank, Jaiprakash Associates, SAIL, MMTC, DHFL, Adani Enterprises, Balrampur Chini, Bajaj Hindusthan, Dalmia Bharat, Fortis Healthcare were down up to

Persistent Systems, ICICI Lombard, L&T Technology, Dish TV and Manappuram Finance gained up to 4 percent.

3:26 pm NTPC in focus: NTPC said the first unit of 800 MW of Lara Super Thermal Power Project (Stage-I: 2x800 MW) has been commissioned on March 23, 2018.

With this, the total commissioned capacity of NTPC and NTPC group has become 46,100 MW and 52,991 MW respectively.

The state-owned power generation company informed exchanges that company has begun extraction of coal from its Dulanga coal mine located in the state of Odisha.

3:20 pm Block Deal: About 1.2 crore shares (representing 0.5 percent of total paid-up equity) of Axis Bank traded in a block deal on the NSE at a price of Rs 499.40 per share.

3:15 pm Buzzing: Max Financial gained nearly 2 percent on acquiring 0.74 percent stake in Max Life for Rs 153.3 crore from Axis Bank.

3:10 pm BHEL in pact with ISRO: State-run power equipment maker BHEL today entered into a technology transfer agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the manufacturing of space-grade lithium-ion cells of various capacities.

BHEL will utilise technology developed by ISRO at its Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), a BHEL statement said.

The ISRO has so far been sourcing space-grade lithium-ion cells from foreign vendors and BHEL has been assembling and testing space-grade lithium-ion batteries with such imported cells, for satellites and launch vehicles of ISRO.

3:05 pm Buzzing: Shares of Union Bank of India tumbled over 9 percent to hit a one-year low amid concerns over losses incurred in a Rs 1,394-crore loan fraud case.

The CBI has booked a Hyderabad-based construction and infrastructure company for allegedly defrauding a consortium of eight banks to the tune of over Rs 1,394 crore, officials said yesterday.

Totem Infrastructure, which worked as a sub-contractor for several major infrastructure companies, and its promoters Tottempudi Salalith and Tottempudi Kavita were named in a CBI FIR, registered on the basis of a complaint from Union Bank of India, one of the eight banks, they said.

The bank alleged in the complaint that it suffered a loss of Rs 313.84 crore as the loans given to the company had become NPA in June, 2012.

They said the total dues towards the consortium stand at Rs 1,394.43 crore.

2:59 pm New bid to buy Essar Steel: World's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal, whose bid for Essar Steel was rejected by lenders, said it plans to re-bid for the debt-laden firm undergoing insolvency proceedings.

The SBI-led consortium of creditors had this week rejected the bids by ArcelorMittal and Numetal -- SPV floated by Russian lender VTB Bank and Rewant Ruia -- finding them ineligible under the IBC (Insolvency Bankruptcy Code) laws that debar related parties from bidding.

"We have not yet received any formal notification from the resolution professional. But we can confirm it is our intention to participate in a re-bid," ArcelorMittal said in a statement.

According to a source, the decision to reject the company's bid was taken at a meeting of the committee of creditors (CoC) of Essar Steel in Mumbai.

2:50 pm Market Update: It is weak trade at Dalal Street as global trade war jitters spooked markets. The Sensex fell around 400 points and the Nifty is trying hard to defend 10,000 level.

All sectoral indices are witnessing heavy losses but only technology stocks outperformed as the Nifty IT index was up 0.3 percent.

Nifty Bank continued to trade with more than 450 points loss.

2:40 pm Stake Sale: IFCI has made partial disinvestment of its stake in NSE to the extent of about 0.17 percent of the total number of equity shares of NSE comprising of 8,58,379 number of equity shares at the rate of Rs 873.74 per share on March 22.

2:30 pm Fortis in focus: Private equity TPG, and Manipal, which are looking to buy hospital business of Fortis Healthcare, is expected to change the deal structure to protect against legal risks and liabilities, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

TPG-backed Manipal is in talks with lenders to buy hospital and diagnostics assets.

Sources said TPG and Manipal are in talks with PE investors to buy 44 percent stake in SRL. Manipal may look to list company as Pan-India hospital chain post deal.

TPG, Manipal and Fortis Health did not offer a comment.

Yes Bank holds 15.3 percent stake in Fortis Healthcare while Promoters and Singh Brothers hold 0.2 percent stake.

2:20 pm Stake Buy: Max Financial Services has raised stake in its life insurance arm by buying a portion from Axis Bank for Rs 153 crore.

MFS has acquired 0.74 percent additional stake in its subsidiary, Max Life Insurance Company Ltd (Max Life), comprising 14,170,817 equity shares from Axis Bank, for a consideration of approximately Rs 153.33 crore.

MFS said in a regulatory filing that with this, the shareholding of the company in Max Life has gone up to 70.75 percent.

A part of the USD 3 billion Max group, MFS is the holding company for Max Life.

Max Life is a joint venture between MFS and Japan-headquartered life insurance firm Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) .

2:10 pm Market Update: Global trade war tensions spooked markets as benchmark indices fell 1.2 percent, dragged by banks, metals, oil and infra stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 392.11 points or 1.19 percent at 32,614.16 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 121.85 points or 1.20 percent to 9,992.95.

About five shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Hindalco and Vedanta were biggest loser among Nifty50 stocks, falling around 5 percent each followed by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, L&T, Axis Bank, HDFC, SBI, Yes Bank, IOC, Tata Steel, Maruti and Tata Motors that declined 1-3 percent.

HCL Technologies, Bharti Infratel and Zee Entertainment outperformed, rising 1-2 percent followed by Infosys, Asian Paints, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra and Coal India.

1:55 pm GSK pulls out of race for Pfizer assets: GlaxoSmithKline has withdrawn from the race to buy Pfizer's consumer healthcare business, the British drugs company said, endangering an auction for an asset some said could fetch as much as USD 20 billion.

GSK was seen as the front runner to buy the assets, which include Advil painkillers and Centrum vitamins, after main rival Reckitt Benckiser quit the race on Thursday.

"While we will continue to review opportunities that may accelerate our strategy, they must meet our criteria for returns and not compromise our priorities for capital allocation," Chief Executive Emma Walmsley said in a brief statement.

1:45 pm Auto Launch: Mahindra & Mahindra has committed launch of at least three new electric vehicles, including two new sports utility vehicles (SUV), using a battery pack that is more than four times more powerful than its current mini electric car e2o.

These new models are independent of the tie-up announced on Thursday by Mahindra Group and Ford Motor Company where both companies agreed to work jointly on a battery electric vehicle among other areas of co-operation.

As part of M&M’s plans a high voltage five-seater SUV with a range of 250 kms on a full charge is in the works. This premium SUV will have a top speed 150km/hr, which is almost twice compared to the e2o’s 80km/hr top speed.

In addition there will be a five-seater electric sedan having a range of 156kms and a top speed of 110 km/hr. While the electric SUV will be powered by a 90kW motor the electric sedan will see house a 50kW motor. Both the vehicles will be powered by NMC or Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide battery.

1:35 pm Europe Trade: European equities traded lower , as heightened fears of a global trade war shook stock and currency markets.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was down around 0.82 percent, with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.

1:15 pm Dilip Buildcon bags NHAI contract: The company has been declared L-1 bidder for a new hybrid annuity project valued at Rs 936 crore by the National Highways Authority of India in the state of Telangana.

1:05 pm Market Update: Benchmark indices continued to trade sharply lower, with the Sensex falling 422.33 points to 32,583.94 and the Nifty down 130.05 points at 9,984.75.

Nifty Bank was down 470 points. About seven shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

12:55 pm Market Outlook: Gaurav Dua, Head of Research, Sharekhan said a global trade war has pulled the equity markets down globally. In India also, the bias has turned negative with the benchmark index, Nifty, slipping out of its consolidation range of the past few weeks.

We believe that the correction of close to 10 percent from the recent highs largely factors in a lot of negatives and is in line with the past two corrections; first one in December 2015 (triggered by interest rate hikes in US after a gap of almost a decade) followed by dip in November 2016 (triggered by demonetisation and its unknown ramifications).

Notably, the equity markets recovered quickly in both the incidents after a fall of 10-12 percent from the recent peak.

Thus, we continue to remain constructive on equity markets over the medium term though the volatility is likely to sustain in near term.

12:50 pm Gold Update: Gold prices rose to a two-week high on a softer dollar as investors scurried to safety after US President Donald Trump took a step towards long-promised anti-China tariffs, stoking fears of a global trade war.

US gold futures for April delivery rose 1.12 percent to USD 1,342.30 per ounce.

12:40 pm Technical Outlook: Shubham Agarwal, CEO at Quantsapp said the Nifty has been in a downtrend for a couple of months, it’s only the acceleration which is happening now to an existing trend.

We continue with initial target of 9,700 on Nifty where studies will need to be reviewed. 10,000 was important due to the fact of highest Put OI existing around that, the level holds firm only if OI shifts doesn’t happen which is not the case since market opening today.

Put writer have already started shifting their positions lower to 9,900 and Call writers are aggressive with conviction which is indicated by the fact that they are selling At the Money options of 10,000 & 10,100.

Though, we still have a target of 9700 due for Nifty, taking a fresh sell position on futures now may not be favourable with diminishing reward to risk. A better strategy would be to buy naked Put options with a short term perspective. This will keep the risk limited and reward open.

12:37 pm Expansion: Gati KWE is undertaking significant expansions across eight critical logistics nodes namely Noida, Kolkata, New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur & Ambala adding up to 8 lac square feet.

This will result in the two-fold plus increase in the distribution and warehousing capacities at these vital supply chain demand points.

80 new operating units have been added in last mile operations to add onto the reach over the last quarter. Gati KWE has recently purchased 125 new trucks in March and is further looking at fuel efficient electric vehicles on a pilot basis for intra-city service operations in the next quarter.

Direct delivery pin codes have increased tremendously by 500 numbers, which reduces the transit time to these pincodes by 2-3 days and enhances the serviceable network for its e-commerce customers.

12:29 pm Varun Beverages in focus: Varun Beverages said it has acquired PepsiCo India's previously franchised sub-territory in Jharkhand along with a manufacturing facility.

"The company has concluded the acquisition of PepsiCo India's previously franchised sub-territory in Jharkhand along with one manufacturing unit at Jamshedpur," it said in a BSE filing.

PepsiCo India's bottling partner Varun Beverages is now a franchisee for PepsiCo products across 21 states and 2 Union Territories.

12:19 pm Order Win: MEP Infrastructure Developers in joint venture with LongJian Road & Bridge Company has emerged as a preferred bidder (L1) by National Highways Authority of India for the three Hybrid Annuity Mode Projects viz.(i) AUSA CHAKUR PROJECT-four laning of Ausa- Chakur Sec of NH-361 with bid cost of Rs 848.63 crore (ii) CHAKUR LOHA PROJECT-four laning of Chakur-Loha Sec of NH-361 in Maharashtra on HAM with bid cost of Rs 1,001.10 crore and (iii) LOHA WARANGA PROJECT-four laning of Loha-Waranga Sec of NH-361 with bid cost of Rs 1,073.10 crore.

The construction period for all three projects are 2 years from the appointed date. The concession period for all three projects is 15 years (excluding construction period of 2 years).

12:10 pm Parliament Disruption: The Rajya Sabha could not transact any business for the 15th straight day, as opposition parties continued to create ruckus, forcing adjournment of

proceedings.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the Rajya Sabha for the day but not before expressing anguish over the House not doing any business since it met on March 5.

Naidu said past disruptions should not be cited to justify the "present wrong" and voiced hope the government will take the opposition into confidence to ensure the House functions next week.

Andhra parties, including the TDP, and KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress trooped in the Well today shouting slogans for special status to the state while Tamil Nadu parties - DMK and AIADMK- raised the Cauvery water issue.

12:05 pm Market Outlook: Deven Choksey of KR Choksey Securities told CNBC-TV18 that the negative sentiment is refraining retail investors from participating in the market.

For long term investors opportunities are plenty in the market, given the strong earnings visibility for next 6-8 quarters.

Life insurance business, commercial vehicle, housing finance, electrical goods and equipment segments are good for investment.

As far as long term trade is concerned, technically in the market anything is possible, but capitulation with multiple headwinds can pull the market down to 9,750 on the Nifty but fundamentals are not supporting the fall.

People are sitting on cash, once this correction settles down they will come.

With trade concerns, nobody is scared now. In fact people are asking for opportunities in the falling market and there are opportunities available.

12:01 pm IPO Subscription: The public issue of ICICI Securities has been subscribed 31 percent so far on second day.

The IPO has received bids for 1.37 crore equity shares against issue size of 4.42 crore shares, as per data available with the NSE.

11:58 am US Spending Bill: The US Senate passed a USD 1.3 trillion federal spending bill in dramatic dark-of-night fashion early today, overcoming hurdles that threatened to send the government into its third shutdown of 2018.

Lawmakers stared down a self-imposed deadline of midnight today, when federal funding was set to expire, and passed the mammoth package by a vote of 65-32, with hours to spare.

It now goes to the White House to be signed by President Donald Trump, whose aides have said he supports the bill.

11:52 am Market Outlook: Siddhartha Khemka,VP - Head of Research (Retail), MOFSL said, "Indian equity markets reacted negatively, in-line with global markets. With US imposing fresh tariff targeted China, there is an increasing fear of a trade war which could impact economic growth."

He expects markets to remain volatile ahead of F&O expiry next week, as well as end of Indian financial year (last week before the LTCG tax kicks in).

While traders should remain cautious, decline in good fundamental stocks would offer buying opportunities for long term investors, he advised.

11:41 am Market Update: Bears continued to have dominant position in the market as the 30-share BSE Sensex was down 450.25 points or 1.36 percent at 32,556.02 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 140.50 points or 1.39 percent to 9,974.30 on US-China trade war concerns.

Midcaps continued to underperform frontliners, with the Nifty Midcap index falling 2 percent on US-China trade war concerns.

The market breadth was largely in favour of declines as about 7 shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

Asian markets like Nikkei, Shanghai, Hang Seng, Kospi were down between 3-5 percent.

11:35 am Fundraising: Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) plans to raise Rs 1,200 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) and has set an issue price of Rs 233 per share.

The company proposes to issue and allot up to 51,502,145 equity shares at an issue price of Rs 233 per share aggregating to a total issue size of approximately Rs 1,200 crore, JSPL said in a filing to BSE.

JSPL has presence in steel, power, mining and infrastructure sectors. The company operates coal-based sponge iron plant and has an installed capacity of 3 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) of steel at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.

11:30 am NCLT approves demerger: The Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench (NCLT) approved the composite scheme involving demerger of Commodity API business of Strides and Human API Business of SeQuent into Solara.

11:20 am Market Outlook: Anita Gandhi Whole Time Director at Arihant Capital Markets said, "Indian Equities fell sharply following clues in global equities, after US President imposed trade tarrifs on China amid concerns that trade war could adversly affect global growth."

"Indian macros have improved over last 3/4 quarters. Our markets will see improvement as we get into earnings season. However, there could be volatility in near term owing to global concerns. "

11:15 am FII View: Morgan Stanley feels the impact of tariffs on China by US is largely in-line with Section 301 scenario.

EU, Argentina, Australia, Brazil & Korea now exempted from steel & aluminium tariffs.

Initial estimate is that around 50 percent of steel & aluminium imports are now still subject to tariffs.

11:05 am Stake Buy: Promoter has purchased 2.7 lakh shares of Apollo Tyres via open market from March 19-20, 2018.

11:00 am Technical Outlook: Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist – Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in said, "Oflate substantial damage was already done to the markets and hence shorting at these leves may not be the right strategy as in our opinion markets are trading at critical support levels placed in the zone of 10040-9980 levels. However, as negative sentiments in global markets are strengthening day by day, a close below 10,000 may extend this downsing towards bigger targets of 9700 levels as of now."

"As our technical research conclusions on long term trends are suggesting that this is a multi month correction inside a long term bull market and in this correction, as indices are already down by 10% it should be made use by the long term investors as an opportunity to create or reshuffle their portfolios. Beyond 9700 levels we are not looking at substantial price damage but there is going to be a time wise correction for couple of months."

"Once it bottoms out this bull market has one more leg on the upside which should eventually take it beyond 11200 kind of levels over a period of time may be in next 9-12 months," he added.

10:50 am Market Update: The US-China trade war concerns spooked not only global markets but also India, with the Nifty trading below the psychological 10,000-mark.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 397.03 points or 1.20 percent at 32,609.24 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 128.25 points or 1.27 percent to 9,986.55.

More than six shares declined for every share rising on the BSE.

All sectoral indices were in the red, but only IT is exceptional, trading mildly in the green.

The correction in midcaps was more than frontliners, with the Nifty Midcap index falling 2 percent.

10:40 am Management Interview: "Totem Infra owed bank Rs 1,400 crore along with interest overdue, but there is no impact from Totem case on bank," Rajkiran Rai G, Managing Director & CEO, Union Bank of India said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

Totem Infra could not execute projects which led to defaults in loans, he reasoned.

Rai G said the process of filing the case is on since 2017 and the bank has provided 100 percent for Totem Infra case & is seeing recoveries as well.

Serious scrutiny is taking place on all accounts under non-performing assets, he said, adding the bank has an exposure of Rs 12,466 crore to NCLT accounts.

He said the entire slippages in Q4 will be from stressed assets and total stressed assets are at 16 percent of the book. Exposure in SDR & S4A is at Rs 4,500 crore, he added.

"We have exposure of Rs 7,658 crore to RBI's first list of defaulters," Rai G.

10:35 am FII View on Trade War: The US' proposed 25 percent tariffs on USD 50 billion of imports from China are below expectations, said Nomura which believes actions in last week suggest overall US trade policy risks have waned modestly.

Trump administration may still become more aggressive on trade, according to him.

10:30 am Market Outlook: Sanjeev Prasad of Kotak Institutional Equities said the market should be looked at on the basis of stocks and high quality stocks continued to remain richly valued.

In last 2 months, domestic political instability has also increased but it doesn’t look like the worst case situation is factored in, he feels.

Cool-off in oil prices, resolution of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code cases could provide upside triggers, he believes.

"It looks like we are in the dead zone for now and we might see banking stocks bouncing back sharply," Prasad said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

There is tremendous value in corporate facing banks like ICICI Bank, he believes.

"We need to track GST revenue for next 2-3 months. Currently these numbers are falling short of the targets," he said, adding macros are very unclear at this point.

Pick-up in GST collections will boost bond market sentiment, he feels.

10:20 am Rupee Trade: The rupee depreciated by 3 paise to 65.14 against the US dollar on sharp losses in global equity markets after US President Donald Trump imposed USD 60 billion of tariffs on Chinese imports.

Trump yesterday directed the US trade representative to level tariffs on about USD 60 billion worth of Chinese imports after a seven-month investigation into the intellectual property theft, which has been a longstanding point of contention in US-China trade relations.

Yesterday, the rupee had ended 10 paise higher to close at 65.11 against the US currency on foreign fund inflows after the US Federal Reserve stuck to its outlook of three rate hikes this year.

10:12 am Pharma firms don't need NOC for export: To ensure ease of doing business, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has waived the provision of procuring "no-objection" certificate (NOC) by pharmaceutical companies for exporting drugs, medical devices and cosmetics across ports in the country.

Previously, licensed manufacturers of drugs and medical devices could export them only to the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and the European Union.

In a notice issued on Wednesday, the CDSCO said the NOC for licensed manufacturers will be waived if "shipping bills" submitted by the manufacturer include a copy of its "valid licence".

"This is being done to bring ease in drug regulatory practices in India relating to export of drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. All the stakeholders are, however, required to comply with the regulatory requirements of the importing countries as per their specific needs," the notice read.

10:05 am China's trade war plan: China unveiled plans today to impose higher tariffs on USD 3 billion worth of American goods including pork and pipes in retaliation to US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Beijing, authorities said.

The measures suspending tariff concessions will target 128 US products including pork, wines and seamless steel tubes, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

According to the ministry, the measures will include a 15-per cent tariff on products including fruits, nuts, wines and seamless steel tubes, and a 25-percent tariff on pork and recycled aluminium products.

The measures will be implemented in two stages.

10:00 am Listing: Defence company Bharat Dynamics share price listed at around Rs 364 on the NSE, falling 15 percent from issue price of Rs 428.

The Rs 960-crore issue was oversubscribed 1.30 times. Price band for the company's IPO has been fixed at Rs 413-428.

9:59 am FII View: Paul Kitney, Daiwa Capital Markets told CNBC-TV18 that, "What we have seen so far is a series of selected targeted tariffs rather than a full scale trade war that would benefit neither US or China. A trade war would benefit no one, but it would be particularly bad for China than US. It is not in its interest to respond aggressively, but for political reasons, they have to do this."

"Right now top of the list of investments is is China. We are overweight China and India and Korea and Hong Kong."

9:55 am CLSA's take on Trade War: Chris Wood of CLSA feels the stance on trade, if pursued by the Trump administration, can make more waves in financial markets.

Most likely outcome is that China will agree to some form of compromise, he said.

According to him, Beijing is unlikely to play hard ball in terms of threatening to sell treasury bonds. Trump may be satisfied personally if he can say he delivered a ‘better deal’ with China.

9:50 am IPO pre-Opening rate: Bharat Dynamics share price settled at Rs 370 on the National Stock Exchange in pre-opening trade against issue price of Rs 428.

9:45 am FII View: "The US move seems to be more of a negotiating tactic with China and the global markets seem to have overreacted a little bit w.r.t recent developments," Shane Oliver of AMP Capital Investors said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He thinks Trump wants to extract a deal with China. "We are seeing exemptions coming through on steel, amongst others."

It is not in Trump administration's interest to wage a trade war, he said.

According to him, the possible trade war will hit more to emerging markets than developed markets.

"So far for India the impact is relatively moderate & measured and we are not concerned about direct impact on India as of now," Oliver said, adding India for many years was over valued versus other markets but that over valuation of has now reduced.

"We are looking to buy India, but not yet," he said.

9:38 am Bhushal Steel in focus: Tata Steel is identified as the successful resolution applicant for acquisition of Bhushan Steel.

The steel maker accepts letter of intent for Bhushan Steel under Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process and Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code.

Committee of creditors has finalised Tata Steel as resolution applicant for Bhushan Steel subject to regulator nod.

9:31 am Morgan Stanley's take on Trade War: The US has rolled back some tariffs on other countries which is a positive and measures announced By Donald Trump are less aggressive than what we feared, said Chetan Ahya, Co-Head of Global Economics & Chief Asia Economist at Morgan Stanley in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He believes this is going to have moderate impact on trade & growth. Previous experiences indicate impact of global trade war is not severe, he believes.

"We need to see if this a move to eventually negotiate with China on tariffs," he said.

He further said US seems to have taken a targetted approach w.r.t Indian subsidies.

9:25 am FII View: "We expect the Chinese to compromise w.r.t tariff imposition by US. For now, we expecting tariff move against China to have only a modest impact," Shaun Rein, Founder - CMR and Author of the War For China's Wallet said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He feels, the fear of full blown trade war is exaggerated and he expects both US & China to be pragmatic.

9:19 am Gainers & Losers: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Vedanta, HDFC, Axis Bank, L&T, SBI, Tata Motors and Yes Bank slipped up to 3 percent while GAIL was the only gainer among Nifty50 stocks.

The market has recovered a bit from day's low and bulls are trying hard to defend 10,000 level.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 365.35 points or 1.11 percent at 32,640.92 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 115.65 points or 1.14 percent to 9,999.15.

9:15 am Market Opening: Benchmark indices opened sharply lower on Friday, tracking steep fall in global peers on US-China trade war worries.

The Sensex fell more than 450 points and the Nifty breached 10,000-mark for the first time in 2018.

About 25 shares declined for every share rising on the NSE.

HCC, Union Bank, Reliance Communications, Bank of Baroda, PNB, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IVRCL, GMR Infrastructure, Nalco, JSPL and SAIL fell up to 7 percent.

9:14 am FII View: Richard Harris, Chief Executive, Port Shelter Investment Management told CNBC-TV18 that equity market is pricing in the bad news w.r.t possible trade war and equity markets are doing what they should be doing.

"You have to be bullish on US equities. I think there is still a goldilocks scenario in the US economy," he said.

Jahangir Aziz, Asia Economic Research at JPMorgan expects value of all items under higher tariffs should be USD 50 billion.

"We need to see what items US imposes tariffs on with their aggregate value. US' next move on IP protection is going to be significant to track," he said.

9:10 am Market Update: Benchmark indices settled with more than 1 percent loss in pre-opening trade.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 355.38 points or 1.08 percent at 32,650.89 and the 50-share NSE Nifty was down 146 points or 1.44 percent at 9,968.80.

9:05 am Crude Impact: Daniel Hynes, Senior Commodity Strategist at ANZ Research said global trade moves could have wide ramifications for the oil market.

Oil could spike higher due to declining inventories & geopolitical risk, he feels.

Brent crude futures were up 0.93 percent at USD 69.55 a barrel while US crude futures rose 1.09 percent to USD 65 a barrel.

9:02 am Market Pre-Opening: Benchmark indices slipped sharply in pre-opening trade, following global weakness after US-China trade war concerns.

The Nifty fell below 10,000 levels for the first time since October 12, 2017.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 291.80 points at 32,714.47 and the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 149.90 points or 1.48 percent to 9,964.90.

8:55 am Nomura on Trade War: Lewis Alexander of Nomura told CNBC-TV18 that Donald Trump's bark has been worse than his bite' as recent developments are risky & can spiral out of control.

"We have seen a desire by US' partners like Europe & China to be proportional. If retaliation is proportional, then don't think this is a disaster," he said.

Trump administration has crossed lines that have never been crossed before, he feels.

8:50 am FII View: Ken Peng of Asia Pacific Investment Strategist at Citi Private Bank told CNBC-TV18 that MSCI China's exposure to US export revenue is 3 percent and Chinese listed companies' revenue exposure to US is limited.

Hence, US' move on China tariff does not have to result in a bigger trade war, he feels.

He expects further downside in global markets for the near-term and doesn't expect this trade issue to be resolved very quickly.

He further expects intense volatility in global markets in the coming months.

Coming back to India, fiscal worries are not resolved yet, he said, adding the collateral damage in Indian & European markets should reverse.

"Its bit early to draw the conclusion that it's time to buy into India," Peng said.

8:40 am Japan's close watch on trade war: Japan said it would closely watch US' moves on China tariffs and would keep seeking exemptions from US import tariffs.

"We want to closely communicate with US over trade as retaliation against US trade measures could destroy free trade system," it said, adding it would consider necessary steps within WTO Framework.

8:30 am China's take on Trade War: China Commerce Ministry said we resolutely oppose US unilateralism, protectionism w.r.t Section 301 probe.

China has fully made preparations to defend its legitimate interests and doesn't want a trade war but is not afraid of one.

"We hope US to be prudent in its decisions & will pull back 'from the brink'," he said. China urges US not to take bilateral trade relations to a 'Dangerous Place'.

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BPCL: Sell around 420 - 425| Target 385 - 370| Stop Loss 439| Timeframe 15 to 21 sessions| Return 10%

Ashok Leyland: Sell around 144 - 146| Target 136 - 132| Stop loss 149| Timeframe 15 to 21 trading sessions| Return 7%

Persistent Systems Ltd: Buy around 785 - 780| Target 875| Stop loss 740| Timeframe 15 to 21 trading session| Return 11%

8:15 am Stocks in news: United Spirits will consider sub-division of equity shares.

Indraprastha Gas announced reduction in CNG price in Uttar Pradesh.

Idea Cellular says existing leadership teams will continue to manage their separate businesses.

CBI registered a case on a complaint filed by Union Bank of India against Totem Infra.

Tata Sons appointed Tanmoy Chakrabarty as its government affairs officer.

Hero Motocorp has hiked stake in Colombian joint venture to 68 percent.

Also Watch: Markets@Moneycontrol: Nifty likely to open gap-down; 3 stocks which can give up to 11% return

8:00 am Market Check: Indian indices are likely to see big gap down opening on Friday, tracking global weakness on US-China trade war concerns.

The SGX Nifty is also indicating the negative opening for the Indian market, falling 119 points at 9,998.50.

Asian markets fell sharply, tracking the steep fall on Wall Street and European markets, which took a hit on fears of a potential trade war.

US stocks dropped on Thursday, as Dow Jones industrial average slipped 724 points, down 2.9 percent to 23,957.89, which is a biggest decline since February 8. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 2.5 percent to 2,643.69 and Nasdaq Composite declined 2.3 percent at 7,166.68.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday that could impose tariffs on up to USD 60 billion of imports from China, although the measures have a 30-day consultation period.

Investors fears that China may retaliate with its own tariffs that could escalate into a trade war, with potentially dire consequences for the global economy, reported Reuters.

Global trade war concerns a day after Fed's message on 3 rate hikes push dollar index to one-month low. While the yen hit a 16-month high against the dollar as traders seek safety in the Japanese currency. The Hong Kong dollar fells to a new 33-year low.