NDTV : May 14, 2019, 10:12 AM
Domestic stock markets started Tuesday's session on a choppy note with the benchmark indexes switching between gains and losses in the first few minutes of trade, a day after government data showed inflation picked up last month. The S&P BSE Sensex index traded in a range of 148.14 points between 36,998.44 and 37,146.58, while the NSE Nifty moved between 11,109.20 and 11,157.95.At 9:46 am, the Sensex traded 21.20 points lower at 37,069.62, while the Niftywas down 15.05 points at 11,133.15. Twenty nine stocks on the 50-scrip index traded in the negative zone at the time. Top Nifty50 laggards were Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, HCL Tech and Asian Paints, trading between 1.07 per cent and 1.63 per cent lower. Overall market breadth favoured declines, with 480 stocks on the BSE trading higher and 927 trading lower. On the NSE, 493 stocks advanced while 1,078 declined.Official data showed on Monday that consumer inflation in the country picked up to 2.92 per cent in April from 2.86 per cent in the previous month, remaining below the central bank's medium-term target for the ninth month in a row. Equities in other Asian markets extended losses following sharp falls on Wall Street overnight, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declining 0.4 per cent to touch its lowest level since February 15. Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 1.9 per cent. US S&P 500 e-mini stock futures were flat near seven-week lows.China announced on Monday that it would impose higher tariffs on $60 billion of US goods following Washington's decision last week to hike its own levies on $200 billion in Chinese imports.The Sensex had shed 1,976.51 points - or 5.06 per cent - in the past nine consecutive trading sessions. The Nifty gave up 606.45 points, or 5.16 per cent, during this period.