Asian stocks fell on Friday, tracking US market losses, as fears of looming “reciprocal tariffs” and escalating trade tensions eclipsed strong US economic growth data.

Japan and South Korea’s markets fell, following declines in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100. US equity futures also edged lower in early Asian trade.

The Nikkei and Kospi were trading 1.90% and 1.39% down, respectively as of 7:09 a.m. The ASX 200 was up 0.38%.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones and S&P 500 settled 0.37% and 0.33% lower, respectively. The dollar index was trading 0.04% down at 104.29 as of 7:11 a.m. Brent crude was 0.03% higher at $74.05 a barrel as of 7:12 a.m.

The benchmark indices closed higher on Thursday, recovering from the previous session’s sharp intraday fall.

The NSE Nifty 50 ended 105.10 points or 0.45% higher at 23,591.95, while the BSE Sensex closed 317.93 points or 0.41% up at 77,606.43.

Foreign portfolio investors remained net buyers for the sixth straight session as they bought equities worth Rs 11,111.3 crore. Domestic institutional investors turned net buyers after two days, mopping up equities worth Rs 2,517.7 crore, according to provisional data from the National Stock Exchange.

Stocks To Watch

  • UltraTech Cement: The firm commissioned new capacity and expansion projects across multiple locations. This included a brownfield clinker capacity of 3.35 million tonnes per annum at its Madhya Pradesh plant, a brownfield grinding unit expansion of 1.2 MTPA in Maharashtra and another brownfield grinding unit expansion of 0.60 MTPA in West Bengal. The company also announced a new bulk cement handling terminal in Lucknow with a capacity of 1.8 MTPA.

  • Bharat Electronics: BEL received additional orders valued at Rs 1,385 crore since March 12, taking the total value of orders secured in the current financial year to Rs 18,415 crore.

  • Infosys: The firm partnered with LKQ Europe to implement a unified, cloud-based digital platform for streamlining HR processes across 18 countries.

  • Hindustan Aeronautics: HAL revised the value of its contract to supply 20 Light Combat Aircraft Mark 1 to the Indian Air Force from Rs 5,989.4 crore to Rs 6,542.2 crore due to a revision in the delivery schedule.

  • North Eastern Carrying Corp.: The firm bagged a five-year contract from Tata Steel for the transportation of steel products using electric vehicles, its inaugural large-scale EV logistics contract.

  • Asian Paints: The company is establishing a chemical manufacturing facility in Dahej, Gujarat, for Rs 3,250 crore. The facility will handle vinyl acetate ethylene emulsion, vinyl acetate monomer and ethylene.

  • BEML: The firm secured a Rs 405-crore contract from Bengaluru Metro Rail Corp. for the supply of standard gauge metro cars, along with personnel training and comprehensive maintenance for up to 15 years.

  • Jindal Steel & Power: The company was declared as the successful bidder for Saradhapur  Jalatap East Coal Block with a revenue sharing of 10%.

  • Force Motors: The company was declared the L1 vendor for the supply of 2978 Force Gurkha light vehicles to the Indian Defence Forces. The order is for GS 4X4 800 kg Soft Top vehicles.

  • Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders: The Defence Ministry has extended Biju George’s additional responsibilities as chairperson and managing director by a month, effective April 1.

  • Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers: Reappoints Shailesh Khaitan as chairperson and MD effective April 1.

  • Dr Agarwal’s Health Care: Opens a new branch in Andhra Pradesh.

  • Gravita India: Receives tax demand of Rs 41.48 crore.

  • Antony Waste: Approves merger of AG Enviro Infra Projects.

  • Power Finance Corp: Transfers Kurnool III PS RE Transmission project to Power Grid Corp.

  • Paras Defence: Sells 100% stake in Paras Green UAV to Euro Asia Exports.

  • Jio Financial Services: To invest Rs 1,000 crore in Jio Finance for business operations.

  • Bengal & Assam Co: The NCLT sanctions the scheme of arrangement with Umang Dairies and Panchmahal Properties.

  • Aditya Birla Fashion: The NCLT approves scheme of arrangement with Aditya Birla Lifestyle Brands.

  • CESC: Signs power purchase agreement for 25 MW capacity for three years.

  • DCM Shriram: Begins commercial operations at compressed biogas plant in Ajbapur.

  • UCO Bank: Closes QIP and approves issue price at Rs 34.27 per share.

  • Raymond: The NCLT approves the scheme of arrangement with Raymond Realty.

  • Samvardhana Motherson: Says US tariffs may not materially impact financials as products are US-made or USMCA-compliant.

  • Power Grid: Acquires Kurnool III PS RE Transmission for Rs 19 crore under tariff-based competitive bidding.

  • Sandhar Tech: In pact with Jinyoung Electro-Mechanics to sell entire stake in Jinyoung Sandhar Mechatronics JV.

  • Adani Green Energy: Operationalises 396.7 MW power projects in Gujarat; total generation capacity rises to 13,487.8 MW.

  • Piramal Enterprises: To raise up to Rs 100 crore with a green-shoe option of Rs 200 crore.

  • One Mobikwik Systems: Updates on Dec. 14 fraud case, stating an ex-employee misappropriated up to Rs 1.26 crore.

  • Torrent Power: Sells shares of various arms for Rs 467 crore to unit Torrent Green Energy.

Block Deals

Max Financial Services: Max Ventures Investment Holdings sold 55 lakh shares (1.59%) at Rs 1,112 per share. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund bought 29.22 lakh shares (0.84%), DSP Mutual Fund bought 11.59 lakh shares (0.33%), Oxbow Master Fund Limited bought 3.71 lakh shares (0.1%), Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore Pte bought 2.47 lakh shares (0.07%), Societe Generale bought 2.35 lakh shares (0.06%), and Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Co. bought 1.9 lakh shares (0.11%), all at Rs 1,112 per share.

Bulk Deals

  • JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals: Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund bought 12.3 lakh shares (0.79%) at Rs 1,625 per share, while Tau Investment Holdings sold 89.83 lakh shares (5.8%) at the same price.

  • Cyient DLM: Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund bought 5.3 lakh shares (0.66%) at Rs 436.09 per share.

  • BEML: Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund bought 2.66 lakh shares (0.64%) at Rs 3,048.3 per share.

  • Punjab & Sind Bank: The company closed its QIP and approved the issue price at Rs 38.37 per share.

  • Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services: The company approved the acquisition of a 45.33% stake in Effiasoft from Koushik Shee & Akula Krishna Rao for Rs 36.7 crore.

Insider Trade

  • Mangalam Cement: Promoter Ava Trading and Consulting bought 15,000 shares on March 26.

  • Apollo Hospitals Enterprise: Promoter PPN Power Generating Co. bought 4,500 shares on March 24.

  • Navneet Education: Promoter Bipin Amarchand Gala (Trustee of Navneet Trust) bought 50,000 shares on March 25.

  • Steel Strips Wheels: Promoter Chandigarh Developers bought 56,587 shares on March 26.

  • Jindal Steel & Power: Promoter Virtuous Tradecorp Pvt. revoked a pledge for 39 lakh shares.

  • Time Technoplast: Promoter Time Securities Services bought 26,750 shares on March 27.

  • Vascon Engineers: Promoter Siddharth Vasudevan Moorthy bought 1.24 lakh shares on March 24 and March 25.

Trading Tweaks

  • Price Band changes from 20% to no Band: Hindustan Zinc, Inox Wind, PNB Housing Finance.

  • Price Band changes from no Band to 20%: JK Cement, L&T Technology Services.

  • Price Band changes from 10% to 5%: Kesoram Industries.

  • Ex-record Dividend: TVS Holdings, Samvardhana Motherson International, Motherson Sumi Wiring India, Matrimony.com.

  • List of securities shortlisted in Short-Term ASM Framework Stage 1: Oriana Power.

  • List of securities to be excluded from ASM Framework: Centum Electronics.

F&O Cues

  • Nifty April futures up by 0.54% to 23,810 at a premium of 218 points.

  • Nifty April futures open interest up by 24.42%.

  • Nifty Options April 3 Expiry: Maximum call open interest at 25,400 and maximum put open interest at 22,500.

  • Securities in ban period: IndusInd Bank. 

Currency Update 

The Indian rupee closed seven paise weaker at 85.78, marking a second straight session of decline.

. Read more on Markets by NDTV Profit.The NSE Nifty 50 ended 0.45% higher at 23,591.95, while the BSE Sensex closed 0.41% up at 77,606.43 on Thursday.  Read MoreMarkets, Notifications 

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