Markets fall for 8th straight session; Tata Steel slumps 6%

Mumbai: Falling for the eighth straight day, the BSE Sensex slipped 96 points while the NSE Nifty ended below the 11,300-mark on Friday amid rising trade tensions between the US and China.

After a highly volatile session, the 30-share BSE benchmark closed 95.92 points, or 0.26 per cent, down at 37,462.99. The index hit an intra-day low of 37,370.39 and a high of 37,721.98.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty shed 22.90 points, or 0.20 per cent, to settle at 11,278.90. During the day, the bourse hit a low of 11,251.05 and a high of 11,345.80.

Tata Steel was the biggest loser in the Sensex pack, tumbling 6.10 per cent, following reports that German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp expected the European Commission to "block" its plan to merge its European steel business with the Indian steel giant.

Other losers included HCL Tech, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, TCS, ONGC, Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, Vedanta, Asian Paints, NTPC and Hero MotoCorp, which shed up to 4.07 per cent.

SBI was the top gainer, up 2.94 per cent, after the country's largest lender reported a net profit of Rs 838.40 crore for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 on a standalone basis as non-performing assets (NPAs) declined. Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, HDFC twins, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, M&M and Tata Motors too ended in the green, rising up to 2.09 per cent.

Earlier in the day, the US hiked tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to threaten retaliation. According to Joseph Thomas, Head Research - Emkay Wealth Management, the market see-sawed through the day, indicating a difficulty in taking a specific direction, mainly due to three factors -- expectations of strong counter tariffs from China against the US action, high oil prices and the country moving into the last phase of the elections.

Ahead of the outcome of the two-day talks in Washington aimed at ending the trade war between the world's two largest economies, US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused China of trying to renegotiate a trade deal that has been negotiated after months of efforts and asserted he will not let that happen.

However, Trump said he received a "very beautiful letter" from the Chinese President Xi Jinping, and that it is possible that the US and China will ink a trade deal. Despite the hike in tariffs, bourses in China ended significantly higher, with Shanghai Composite Index rallying 3.10 per cent and Hang Seng ending 0.84 per cent higher.

Elsewhere in Asia, Nikkei fell 0.27 per cent, while Kospi rose 0.29 per cent. European stocks were also trading higher in early trade.

Back home, continued outflow of foreign funds too weighed on investor sentiment, traders said. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 655.36 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities to the tune of Rs 677.91 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.

The Indian rupee appreciated marginally to 69.86 against the US dollar intra-day. Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.38 per cent higher at USD 70.66 per barrel