Sensex Crashes 2,227 Points on Trade War Fears

Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI) Stock markets crumbled on Monday with benchmark Sensex sinking by 2,226.79 points – its steepest single-day decline in 10 months – as a global market carnage following US President Donald Trump's tariff hikes and retaliation from China fanned fears of economic slowdown.

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 2,226.79 points or 2.95 per cent to settle at 73,137.90, recording its third day of decline. During the day, the index slumped 3,939.68 points or 5.22 per cent to 71,425.01.

The NSE Nifty tumbled 742.85 points or 3.24 per cent to settle at 22,161.60. Intra-day, the benchmark dropped 1,160.8 points or 5.06 per cent to 21,743.65.

All Sensex shares, except for Hindustan Unilever, ended with losses. Tata Steel fell the most by 7.33 per cent followed by Larsen & Toubro which cracked 5.78 per cent.

Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank were the other big laggards.

Hindustan Unilever ended marginally higher.

"The market tumbled as the carnage over high US tariffs and the retaliation by other countries may kickstart a trade war. Sectors like IT and metals have underperformed relative to the broader market due to the risk of high inflation with slower growth that may result in a potential recession in the US," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

As many as 3,515 stocks declined while 570 advanced and 140 remained unchanged on the BSE. Notably, 775 stocks hit their 52-week lows while 59 firms were at 52-week peaks on the BSE.

"After US markets plunged on Friday, it was writing on the wall for other global equity indices which fell like a pack of cards amid fears that Trump's policies on reciprocal tariffs may lead to recession and higher inflation in the US going ahead.

"Already, commodity prices of crude oil and several metals are seeing a downward slide, which is an indication of a slackening demand if the current trend persists," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index tanked more than 13 per cent, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 plunged nearly 8 per cent, Shanghai SSE Composite index dropped over 7 per cent and South Korea's Kospi sank over 5 per cent.

European markets too came under heavy selling pressure and were trading with up to 6 per cent decline.

US markets ended sharply lower on Friday. The S&P 500 dropped 5.97 per cent, Nasdaq composite slumped 5.82 per cent and the Dow tumbled 5.50 per cent on Friday.

On June 4 last year, the Sensex nosedived 4,389.73 points or 5.74 per cent to close at 72,079.05. In the day trade, the barometer tanked 6,234.35 points or 8.15 per cent to 70,234.43.

The Nifty ended at 21,884.50, a sharp decline of 1,379.40 points or 5.93 per cent on June 4, 2024. Intra-day it tumbled 1,982.45 points or 8.52 per cent to 21,281.45.

Sensex and Nifty had previously declined by over 13 per cent on March 23, 2020 when lockdown was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday, the BSE smallcap gauge cracked 4.13 per cent, and the midcap index tanked 3.46 per cent.

All BSE sectoral indices ended with deep cuts. Metal tumbled 6.22 per cent, realty dropped 5.69 per cent, commodities (4.68 per cent), industrials (4.57 per cent), consumer discretionary (3.79 per cent), auto (3.77 per cent), bankex (3.37 per cent), IT (2.92 per cent), teck (2.85 per cent) and BSE Focused IT (2.63 per cent).

"Though the overall impact on India may be limited when compared with other countries, investors are advised to play cautiously during this fray," Nair said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,483.98 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 3.61 per cent to USD 63.21 a barrel.

Last week, the Sensex tanked 2,050.23 points or 2.64 per cent, while the NSE Nifty declined 614.8 points or 2.61 per cent.