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NEW DELHI: Benchmark equity indices plunged over half a per cent in early trade on Monday following subdued Asian cues amid reports that Washington was about to announce a new round of tariffs on Chinese imports, setting the stage for possible reprisals by Beijing.
The BSE Sensex was trading 277 points, or 0.73 per cent, down at 37,813.87 in early trade, while the 50-share NSE Nifty index was down 76 points, or 0.66 per cent, at 11,438.
Rahul Sharma, Senior Technical Research Analyst, Equity99 said, "For this week, Nifty has strong support levels at 11,430-11,380 levels and resistance at 11,605-11,640 level."
As many as 43 stocks in the Nifty index were trading in the red with Indiabulls Housing Finance falling over 2 per cent, followed by UltraTech Cement (down 2.07 per cent), Titan (down 1.89 per cent), Tata Motors (down 1.63 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (down 1.53 per cent).
On the other hand, Wipro, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Infosys gained up to 1.50 per cent.
Sugar stocks extended their gains on the government’s announcement of hike in ethanol price for blending in petrol by 25 per cent.
Rana Sugars, Magadh Sugar and Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar rallied up to 20 per cent in early trade.
Meanwhile, the rupee plunged over 75 paise to 72.61 against dollar despite the government on Friday announced an array of steps, including removal of withholding tax on Masala bonds, relaxation for FPIs, and curbs on non-essential imports, to contain the widening CAD and check the currency fall.
