Sensex down 200 points, Nifty slips below 9,050; PSU Bank index sole gainer

The benchmark indices on Monday continued to trade lower tracking weak global gues after US President Donald Trump's failure on healthcare reform raised questions about his ability to push through tax cuts and fiscal spending to boost the economy.

At 12:22 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 29,200, down 220 points pointsm, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 9,037, down 70 points. 

The broader market outperformed with the S&P BSE Midcap down 0.2%, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was little changed. 

"Friday’s gain was limited, and was in line with expectations, and the next leg up see momentum, only once above 9,200 or on dips to 8,970 or below. Oscillators are suggestive towards major falls though, and directional moving indicators are not strong enough to signal sharp falls. To this end, cautious shorts are recommended below 9,150, while also retaining the upside objective of 9,350-9,500," said Anand James of Geojit Financial Services.

Buzzing stocks

Among sectoral indices, only Nifty PSU Bank index was trading with gains after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last week said that the government, in tandem with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), is working on a radical proposal to resolve the issue of bad loans in the banking system.

Tata Steel was the top loser on Sensex, pushing the S&P BSE Metal index down nearly 2%. 

Coal India shed over 2% after the state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) on Sunday came out with a second interim dividend of Rs 1.15 per share for the current financial year

Reliance Industries slipped nearly 25 to Rs 1,266 after the market regulator Sebi on Friday banned the company from equity derivatives trading for one year and directed the company to disgorge nearly Rs 1,000 crore for “unlawful gains” made through alleged fraudulent trading in a nearly 10-year-old case.

GST bills to be tabled today

The government is likely to table supplementary goods and services tax (GST) legislations in Parliament on Monday.

Sources said C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the compensation law are likely to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday and could be taken up for discussion as early as March 28.

Also, amendments to the excise and Customs Act to abolish various cess as well as furnishing Bills for exports and imports under the new GST regime will be placed before the House.

Trump tastes failure on healthcare bill

President Donald Trump suffered a stunning political setback in a Congress controlled by his own party when Republican leaders pulled legislation to overhaul the US healthcare system, a major 2016 election campaign promise of the president and his allies.

House of Representatives leaders yanked the bill after a rebellion by Republican moderates and the party’s most conservative lawmakers left them short of votes, ensuring that Trump’s first major legislative initiative since taking office on January 20 ended in failure. Democrats were unified against it.

Investors are now worried that the difficulties with the health bill could delay other legislation such as tax reform.

Global markets

US stock futures and the dollar fell on Monday while Asian markets struggled. US stock index futures fell 0.7% to a six-week low in heavy volume, suggesting a weaker start on Wall Street later in the day.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was broadly flat after posting its first weekly decline last week in three weeks.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.5% as the yen rebounded in the face of renewed US dollar weakness. China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.1%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.1%.

(With inputs from Reuters)