By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s blue-chip Nifty 50 posted its longest falling streak in its three-decade history on Tuesday, as global trade conflicts intensified after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on key trading partners came into effect.
The Nifty fell 0.17% to 22,082.65, while the BSE Sensex lost 0.13% to 72,989.93.
The 50-stock Nifty has fallen about 4% in 10 sessions and 16% from a record high hit in September.
Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canada, Mexico and a cumulative 20% tariff on China came into effect on Tuesday. Trump also said reciprocal tariffs will start on April 2, escalating trade tensions and dragging global financial markets. [MKTS/GLOB]
China retaliated to U.S. tariffs, announcing 10%-15% hikes to import levies covering $21 billion worth of U.S. agricultural and food products.
“Some more selling pressure in Indian markets is in the offing, because Trump has moved forward with his tariff. It’s time to see the response of other countries,” said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of research of retail equities at SMC Global.
Further “market drop will depend on the extent of escalation of the trade conflict which could hurt global growth,” Jain said.
Higher tariffs, besides their potential adverse impact on global growth, could spur inflation in the U.S., leading to higher interest rates for longer and hurting flows into emerging markets such as India.
Five of the 13 major sectors logged losses, with export-focused information technology, pharma and auto stocks falling 0.9%, 0.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
IT companies, which get a substantial portion of their revenue from the U.S., were also hit by data signalling rise in price pressures in the United States.
Among individual stocks, refiners including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum rose 3%-6% as crude prices fell. [O/R]
Paytm shed about 4% as financial crime-fighting agency said it violated foreign exchange laws to the tune of $70 million.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Eileen Soreng)
