Indian shares plummet

Indian shares fell sharply on Tuesday to mark their worst close in nearly six weeks, dragged lower by index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries Ltd, amid lingering trade tensions between the United States and China. US President Donald Trump's latest threat to ramp up trade tariffs on China stoked worries that trade talks may be derailed and rattled world markets, with Asian shares fragile after touching a five-week low.
The broader NSE index closed 0.87 percent lower at 11,497.9, while the benchmark BSE index ended down 0.84 percent to 38,276.63. The NSE index broke below a key support of 11,556, the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement level on the uptrend from Feb. 19 low to April 18 high.
Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries dived 3 percent in its worst session since Dec. 10, 2018, while private-sector lender ICICI Bank Ltd dropped 3.7 percent to its lowest close in over six weeks. "We saw the markets react to trade war worries yesterday (Monday), but it is going to be just a short-to-medium term blip.
We continue to believe India is a consumption-driven economy and it will be an advantage for India, if things go sour between US and China," said Gaurang Shah, senior vice-president at Geojit Financial Services in Mumbai. "As we go closer to election date and exit poll outcomes, volatility and choppiness in the market will get elevated. Barring that, there is no negativity to worry about."
Hindalco Industries Ltd was the top gainer on the NSE index by percentage, rising as much as 2.7 percent. Miner Vedanta Ltd, which is due to report quarterly results later in the day, gained up to 2.1 percent. Among gainers, Bharti Airtel Ltd's shares touched their highest in over seven months before reversing course to fall over 2 percent.
It posted a 29 percent jump in March-quarter results on Monday, boosted by a one-time gain. Shares of consumer company Marico Ltd posted their best day in nearly four years after it posted a more than two-fold jump in its quarterly profit. Meanwhile, energy shares lost steam, with Nifty energy index shedding up to 1.4 percent. Oil marketing firms such as Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd, Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd fell as much as between 2.9 and 5.1 percent.