Indian market benchmarks Sensex and Nifty slumped close to 2 per cent on Friday, following sharp declines in global markets after trade war fears gripped investors due to the recent US announcement of additional tariffs on Chinese products. The NSE Nifty 50 posted its fifth consecutive loss for the month, making it the longest streak since 1996.
In India, the 30-share Sensex dipped more than 1,414 points to settle at 73,198.10 while the Nifty 50 shed at least 420 points to close at 22,124.70 points.
Among the Sensex, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Titan, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, HCL Tech and TCS recorded major losses. This offset the gains by HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, and Adani Ports.
Major Asian markets, including Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading heavily in the red.
“The spate of tariff announcements by Trump has been impacting markets and the latest announcement of an additional 10 per cent tariff on China is a confirmation of the market view that Trump will use the initial months of his presidency to threaten countries with tariffs and then negotiate for a settlement favourable to the US,” said V.K. Vijayakumar of Geojit Financial Services.
However, now all eyes would be on China and how they respond to the new set of tariffs, added Vijayakumar.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) on Thursday offloaded ₹556.56 crore worth of equities from the Indian market. Thursday also saw US markets ending lower on an unimpressive NVIDIA financial outlook and muted reactions to economic data.
NVIDIA lost more than $274 billion in stock value after tumbling 8.5 per cent. Broadcom and AMD followed suit, pushing the Philadelphia chip index down by more than 6 per cent. The market closed with the S&P 500 down around 1.6 per cent and the Nasdaq slipping by about 2.8 per cent.
This had broader implications across the Pacific, where the Nikkei (Japan markets) ended at a five-month low.
Tariffs proposed by US President Donald Trump on Mexican and Canadian goods expected to be in effect from the coming week sent UK and other European stocks down. The STOXX 600 index slipped close to 1 per cent.
