Stocks continue fall on rising trade war concern

Mumbai, March 15: The BSE Sensex fell by 150 points to close at 33,685.54 in a volatile trade, extending losses for a third day as banking, FMCG and IT shares fell amid fresh LoU fraud scare and intensifying trade war worries.

Banking stocks led by Yes Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and SBI came under heavy selling pressure after the CBI registered a fresh case relating to “fraudulent” issuance of ` 9 crore of LoUs to Chandri Papers and Allied Products by PNB's Brady House branch.

The broader NSE Nifty fell below the key 10,400mark and touched a low of 10,346.20, before ending down 50.75 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 10,360.15.

“Market continued to consolidate in a narrow range following mixed trend in global market. World Bank prediction of 7.3% growth in FY19 will give a positive long term sentiment but global trade concerns and scepticism on upcoming state elections will refrain market for a decisive up move,” Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services said.

The World Bank and Fitch projected India’s GDP growth at 7.3 per cent for the next fiscal and accelerate further to 7.5 per cent in 2019- 20, which helped limit the fall.

The US challenging India’s export subsidy schemes at the WTO fanned fears of trade war amid reports that President Donald Trump might take additional action against Chinese products.

Asian markets ended mixed after the Wall Street declined amid concerns that the US could impose severe tariffs on Chinese imports and that the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates as early as next week.

After opening in the positive zone at 33,843.47, the Sensex advanced to the day’s high of 33,866.28 at the outset. It later gave up gains and fell to a low of 33,637.28, dragged down by banking stocks.

However, the index managed to recoup some of the losses after European shares opened better.