Key benchmarks hover near the day's low

Key benchmark indices continued their weak trade hovering near the lowest point of the day in the afternoon session on account of selling in front line blue chip counters. At present, both Sensex and Nifty were trading below the crucial 29,200 and 9,050 levels, respectively. Traders remained concerned with US President Donald Trump's failure on healthcare reform which raised questions about his ability to push through tax cuts and fiscal spending to boost the economy. Traders gave muted response to Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s introduction of four bills on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the lower house of parliament, paving the way for the government to launch the landmark tax reform. Besides, weak trend in Asian markets coupled with the losses in Metal, Energy, Healthcare and Telecom stocks were putting pressure. In scrip specific development, SpiceJet was up by around five percent after launching its daily direct Delhi-Surat-Delhi service with a traditional flag-off and lamp lighting ceremony at Surat airport on March 26, 2017.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red amid rising doubts over U.S. President Donald Trump's ability to pass legislative reforms after Republican leaders pulled a bill to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Back home, the BSE Sensex is currently trading at 29195.93, down by 225.47 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 29194.96 and 29420.70. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.28%, while Small cap index was down by 0.13%.

The sole gaining sectoral index on the BSE was Consumer Durables up by 0.52%, while Metal down by 2.11%, Energy down by 1.42%, Healthcare down by 0.85%, Telecom down by 0.84% and Oil & Gas down by 0.83% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 0.56%, Power Grid up by 0.49%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.47% and Dr. Reddys Lab up by 0.45%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 2.97%, Reliance Industries down by 2.26%, Coal India down by 2.13%, Lupin down by 1.70% and Sun Pharma down by 1.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, with an aim to protect domestic players and give a fillip to the sector, the government may impose an anti-circumvention duty on certain stainless steel products originating from seven destinations- China, Korea, EU, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the US. 

The government has resumed the investigations into circumvention of anti-dumping duties on cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel widths from 600 mm to 1,250 mm after the stay order was vacated by a court on March 8, 2017. The probe was initiated in February, 2016 by the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the Commerce Ministry, on a complaint by Jindal Stainless, but it was stayed on April 27, 2016, by the Delhi High Court.

The DGAD in its earlier notification had stated that it has sufficient evidence of circumvention of anti-dumping duties leviable on cold-rolled flat products of stainless steel originating from these seven destinations. The probe would determine the existence, degree and effect of the alleged circumvention as well as examine the need to extend the existing anti-dumping duty to the circumventing products. It was alleged that the existing anti-dumping measures imposed in 2010, and amended later, are being circumvented.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 9034.40, down by 73.60 points or 0.81% after trading in a range of 9032.95 and 9094.85. There were 10 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bank of Baroda up by 1.06%, Indusind Bank up by 0.76%, Bharti Infratel up by 0.66%, BHEL up by 0.63% and Power Grid up by 0.49%. On the flip side, Idea Cellular down by 3.63%, Tata Steel down by 3.15%, Hindalco down by 2.51%, Reliance Industries down by 2.29% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 2.13% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 decreased 276.94 points or 1.44% to 18,985.59, Hang Seng declined 165.38 points or 0.68% to 24,192.89, Taiwan Weighted shed 26.21 points or 0.26% to 9,876.77, Jakarta Composite slipped 20.05 points or 0.36% to 5,547.08, KOSPI Index was down by 13.29 points or 0.61% to 2,155.66 and Shanghai Composite decreased 1.83 points or 0.06% to 3,267.61.

On the flip side, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 3.77 points or 0.22% to 1,749.52.