Despite BJP's Tripura win, Sensex falls 200 points, Nifty below 10,400

Despite Bhartiya Janata Party's record win in North-eastern state of Tripura, benchmark indices on Monday opened in red over weak Asian cues and import tariffs on steel & aluminium in the US. The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 193.88 points at 33,853.06 and the 50-share share NSE Nifty fell 66.10 points to 10,392.30.

Auto shares saw a massive decline. Among the top losers were Hindalco, Vedanta, Tata Steel, Aurobindo Pharma, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Coal India and Ambuja Cements and the State Bank of India. Shares of these firms declined 1-3 per cent.

However, Infosys, TCS and IOC were among the early gainers.

Asian shares were on the backfoot and the safe-haven yen rose on Monday amid fears of a global trade war, while the euro was choppy as investors worried Italy's national elections could deliver an anti-establishment government.

Italian voters delivered a hung parliament on Sunday, flocking to anti-establishment and far-right parties in record numbers and casting the euro zone's third-largest economy into a political gridlock that could take months to clear.

After a see-saw start, the common currency eased back to $1.2333 from a two-week high of $1.2365 as the eurosceptic 5-star Movement saw its support soar to become the largest single party, according to projections based on early vote-counting.

"There is a highly uncertain landscape that this election has thrown up," said Ray Attrill, head of forex strategy at National Australia Bank. "It adds to a period of uncertainty and is euro negative in the near-term at least."

Meanwhile, China aims to expand its economy by around 6.5 per cent this year, the same as in 2017, while pressing ahead with its campaign to reduce risks in the financial system, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

The goal was kept unchanged, even though the economy grew 6.9 percent last year and exceeded the government's target, suggesting Beijing will deepen its push to contain risks from an explosive build-up in debt.

Sources previously told Reuters that China will maintain its growth target at "around 6.5 per cent".

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)