Uncertainty surrounding the new tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump triggered a massive sell-off, with benchmark indices dropping, reflecting global market turbulence.
The domestic stock market witnessed chaos during Monday’s trading session; not a single gainer was seen throughout the BSE Sensex. Tata Steel was especially hard hit by the market meltdown, falling 11.25%, the largest drop of any stock. Tech Mahindra fell 6.70%, and Tata Motors followed with a steep decline of 8.24%. With 6.00% declines, Infosys and HCLTech completed the top five losers, according to reports.
By 9:24 am today, the S&P BSE Sensex had nosedived 2,564.74 points to 72,799.95, while the NSE Nifty50 plunged 831.95 points to 22,072.50.
Larger market indices also saw strong losses, with the small-cap index falling 10% and the mid-caps falling 7.3%, while all 13 key sectoral indices were trading in the negative.
This precipitous decline has pushed the Sensex and Nifty to their lowest levels in nearly 10 months, with analysts warning of further losses amid heightened global market volatility. The crash was so severe that it wiped out Rs 19 lakh crore from the total market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms.
Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, was quoted as saying. “No one has a clue about how this turbulence caused by Trump tariffs will evolve. Wait and watch would be the best strategy in this turbulent phase of the market.”
He added, “There are a few things that investors should keep in mind. One, the irrational Trump tariffs will not continue for long. Two, India is relatively better placed since India’s exports to the US as percentage of GDP is only around 2 percent and therefore the impact on India’s growth will not be significant. Three, India is negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the US and this is likely to be successful resulting in lower tariffs for India.”
On Friday, the Nasdaq stock index dropped significantly, entering bear market territory, as commodity prices, such as oil, plummeted in reaction to the sweeping tariff announcement made by President Trump earlier that week.
