Market drops in early trade

Domestic stocks dropped in early trade weighed by reports that Indian Air Force has struck and destroyed a major terrorist camp across the Line of Control early on Tuesday. At 9:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 252.44 points or 0.7% at 35,960.94. The Nifty 50 index was down 91.45 points or 0.84% at 10,788.65.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 1.16%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 1.12%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 275 shares rose and 1048 shares fell. A total of 45 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading lower. U.S. stocks came off earlier highs but still closed higher Monday after President Donald Trump said that he would delay additional China tariffs, and that there had been substantial progress in trade talks over the weekend.

Trump said late Sunday that he would extend a March 1 deadline for increasing tariffs on Chinese imports. He cited substantial progress across key topics such as intellectual property, technology transfers, agriculture and currency, and said if that continues, he will meet with President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago to wrap up a deal.

Back home, Lupin fell 0.72%. Lupin announced that it has received approval for its Methylprednisolone tablets USP, 2 mg, 4 mg, 8 mg, 16 mg and 32 mg, from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Lupin's Methylprednisolone tablet USP is the generic version of Pharmacia and Upjohn Company's Medrol Tablet. It is indicated to treat Endocrine Disorders, Rheumatic Disorders, Collagen Diseases, Dermatologic Diseases, Allergic States, Ophthalmic Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Hematologic Disorders, Neoplastic Diseases, Edematous States, Gastrointestinal Diseases, Acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis, Tuberculous meningitis with subarachnoid block or impending block when used concurrently with appropriate antituberculous chemotherapy, Trichinosis with neurologic or myocardial involvement. Methylprednisolone tablets had annual sales of approximately $114.3 million in the US (IQVIA MAT December 2018). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Bharti Airtel fell 0.24%. Bharti Airtel is deploying Ciena's coherent optical and intelligent software platforms to build one of the World's Largest Photonic Control Plane networks in India. Airtel's new backbone network will serve the exploding demand for high speed data services. It will also enable super-fast broadband experiences over 4G/5G/FTTH architectures, making the most efficient use of available fiber resources. Airtel's new backbone architecture creates a solid foundation that can cut across technology generations to seamlessly work with data rates of 400Gbps and higher to create a future proof scalable network. Further, in a separate announcement, Bharti Airtel said that its board will meet on 28 February 2019, to consider and approve fund raising. The announcements were made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Tejas Networks lost 2.8%. Tejas Networks announced the launch of its innovative, ultra-converged broadband access/edge product family which delivers wireline as well as wireless broadband services from a single integrated platform. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

Bliss GVS Pharma rose 0.89%. Bliss GVS Pharma said that its board approved hiking foreign portfolio investors/foreign institutional investors limits from 24% to 74% in the company. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 25 February 2019.

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