Asian stocks are higher today as Chinese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Shanghai Composite is up 0.03% while the Hang Seng is up 1.30%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 2.12%. US stocks ended higher on Monday as fears of a global trade war ebbed with market participants betting that US President Donald Trump would back down on his threat to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Back home, India share markets opened the day on a strong note tracking global markets. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 205 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 64 points. The BSE Mid Cap index and BSE Small Capindex opened the day up by 0.9% & 0.6% respectively.

All sectoral indices have opened the day in green with metal stocks and realty stocks witnessing maximum buying interest. The rupee is trading at 65.05 to the US$.

In the news from the economy. Activity in India’s service industries contracted in February for the first time since November as rising price pressures led to a decline in new business orders.

Services activity suffered for most of last year following a ban of high value currency notes in November 2016. The 1 July implementation of a national sales tax was another setback, weakening demand.

The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to a six-month low of 47.8 in February, compared with January’s 51.7. The 50-mark separates growth from contraction.

A sub-index tracking new business sank to a six-month low of 48.0 last month from 51.7 in January as demand continued to be affected by higher prices.

In February, manufacturers also faced accelerating inflation, pushing overall input prices to rise at their quickest pace in three and a half years.

The contraction in services activity offset an expansion in manufacturing and caused a composite PMI, which includes both, to plunge to 49.7, its lowest since August, from 52.5 in January.