Sensex drops below 38,000 in early trade

Trading for the week began on a subdued note as domestic stocks dropped in early trade on negative Asian stocks. At 9:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 304.05 points or 0.8% at 37,860.56. The Nifty 50 index was down 89 points or 0.78% at 11,367.90. The Sensex dropped below the psychological 38,000 in early trade.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.82%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.76%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On the BSE, 397 shares rose and 1014 shares fell. A total of 71 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian markets plummeted Monday, amid heightened recession worries. U.S. stocks closed sharply lower Friday, after a downbeat round of economic data in Europe and the U.S. stoked global growth fears while a closely watched measure of the yield curve inverted for the first time since 2007, triggering recession worries.

According to the flash reading of IHS Markit's purchasing manager's index, the manufacturing index fell to 52.5 in March from 53 in February. U.S. wholesale inventories rose 1.2% in January after a revised estimate of a 1.1% increase in December, the Commerce Department said.

In Europe, at a pivotal European Council summit where meetings overran dramatically, the European Union offered the U.K. a two-pronged plan to extend Brexit beyond the March 29 deadline. The U.K. will be offered a delay until May 22, if MPs approve the deal Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated. If not, the EU will support a shorter delay, to April 12 to formulate a new plan.

The flash PMI figure for the eurozone in March showed that the preliminary Markit PMI Composite figure, seasonally adjusted, was 51.3, below the February figure of 51.9.

Back home, Infosys shed 0.59%. Infosys said it will invest $10 million in US-based artificial intelligence-focussed venture capital fund, The House Fund II. The transaction is expected to be completed before the first quarter of the financial year 2019-2020. Minority holding in the proposed transaction will not exceed 20% of the total fund size. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 March 2019.

State Bank of India (SBI) dropped 1.41%. SBI announced that its board approved extension of validity period for raising equity capital of upto Rs 20,000 crore from market by way of FPO/QIP/preferential allotment/rights issue/any other mode or a combination of these till 31 March 2020. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 March 2019.

In a separate announcement, SBI's board approved allotment of 12,513 non-convertible, taxable, perpetual, subordinated, unsecured basel III compliant additional tier 1 bonds, for inclusion in additional tier 1 capital of the bank, in the nature of debentures of face value of Rs. 10 lakh each, at par, bearing coupon of 9,45% p.a. payable annually with call option after 5 years or any anniversary date thereafter, aggregating to Rs. 1251.30 crore to the bond subscribers on 22 March 2019. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 March 2019.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories fell 0.32%. Dr Reddy's Laboratories announced that the audit of research and development facility of Aurigene Discovery Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary, situated at Miyapur, Hyderabad by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), completed on 21 March 2019. No FDA 483 was issued at the end of inspection. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 22 March 2019.

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