US Tariff On Steel Dents Stock Market Sentiment

The US tariff threats continued to impact the market sentiment. Domestic yield is inching higher as investors stay cautious on riskier assets and navigate their investments to safe haven assets like gold, said Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services

Mumbai: Stock markets closed with losses for the fourth consecutive day on Monday with the benchmark Sensex falling by 548 points as fresh US tariff threats shook investor confidence and triggered selling in bluechip banking, metal and oil shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 548.39 points or 0.70 per cent to settle at a week’s low of 77,311.80. Intra-day, it tanked 753.3 points or 0.96 per cent to 77,106.89. The NSE Nifty declined 178.35 points or 0.76 per cent to 23,381.60 dragged by losses in Trent, Tata Steel and Power Grid.

Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services, said: “The US tariff threats continued to impact the market sentiment. Domestic yield is inching higher as investors stay cautious on riskier assets and navigate their investments to safe haven assets like gold.”

The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 2.25 per cent and midcap index tanked 2.06 per cent. All BSE sectoral indices ended lower.

Ameya Ranadive, Chartered Market Technician, CFTe, Sr Technical Analyst, StoxBox, said: “Indian benchmark indices witnessed a significant decline today following a statement by US President Donald Trump, who announced plans to impose new tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the US, along with additional reciprocal tariffs.”

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs470.39 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Power Grid, Tata Steel, Zomato, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC and Tata Motors were among the major laggards. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Tata Consultancy Services were the gainers. Sensex has dropped 1,272 points or 1.63 per cent while Nifty tanked 357 points or 1.51 per cent on the four-day decline since February 5. Realty tumbled the most by 2.69 per cent, followed by metal (2.63 per cent), consumer durables (2.61 per cent), utilities (2.49 per cent) and consumer discretionary (1.94 per cent). As many as 3,032 stocks declined while 1,070 advanced and 123 remained unchanged on the BSE. In Asian markets, Seoul settled lower while Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory. European markets were trading higher. US markets ended lower on Friday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.04 per cent to $75.44 a barrel.