Indian stock markets closed trading on Monday in red. The key equity benchmark indices settled for the day in negative territory after trading on a muted note throughout the session. The BSE Sensex closed trading under 77,200, falling more than 300 points, while the NSE Nifty50 settled the session at 23,361, declining over 100 points.
On the 30-share Sensex, Bajaj Finance, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, and Maruti emerged among the gainers for the day. On the other hand, L&T, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, and PowerGrid stood among the laggards in the session.
In the broader markets, the indices painted a stark picture. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index slumped over 2 per cent, followed by the Nifty Smallcap 50 index which settled 1.98 per cent lower.Â
Sectorally, the Oil & Gas index emerged as the biggest laggard in the session and closed 2.22 per cent lower. On the other hand, the IT index ended trading in green at 0.68 per cent higher.
In the previous trading session on Saturday, the indices closed the day on a flat note amidst high volatility post the Budget reveal by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Tariffs Weighing Down Markets
This decline in Asian indices was attributed to concerns among investors about a possible global trade war. The fears were triggered after US President Donald Trump imposed fresh tariffs on multiple countries including Canada.
Asian markets witnessed Seoul, Hong Kong, and Tokyo settle in red. Meanwhile, European markets traded with deep losses, and the US markets closed trading on Friday in the negative territory. The overall dampened sentiment in the global markets dragged down the Indian equity markets observed Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.Â
The Indian rupee crashed 55 paise to settle at a fresh all-time low of 87.17 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday.”Besides, the rupee depreciating sharply raised concerns that foreign investors are unlikely to reverse the selling trend,” Tapse noted.
