Sensex snaps 5-day rising streak, declines by 319 points as Trump tariffs fuel trade war fears

Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Monday tracking weak global markets amid concerns over US President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on some of its trading partners.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 319.22 points or 0.41 per cent to settle at 77,186.74, snapping its five-day rally. Intra-day, it tumbled 749.87 points or 0.96 per cent to 76,756.09. The NSE Nifty declined 121.10 points or 0.52 per cent to 23,361.05.

From Sensex shares, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, ITC, Power Grid, NTPC and Reliance Industries were the major laggards.

Among the gainers, Bajaj Finance jumped over 5 per cent. Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel and Maruti also ended higher.

"Slump in global equity markets weighed negatively on Indian benchmarks after Trump announced tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada which fuelled pessimism amongst the investors. Besides, the rupee depreciating sharply raised concerns that foreign investors are unlikely to reverse the selling trend," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

The 25 per cent tariff on most imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent tariff on goods from China will take effect from Tuesday.

"The global market got unsettled amid the onset of the 'Trade War,' as tariff conflicts between the US and other nations are unlikely to yield any economic benefits. Instead, it may cause challenges to the global economy, heightening global financial risks," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

The BSE smallcap gauge tanked 1.77 per cent and midcap index declined 0.89 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, capital goods tanked 4.29 per cent, industrials (3.79 per cent), power (3.30 per cent), utilities (2.71 per cent), oil & gas (2.52 per cent) and metal (1.99 per cent).

BSE healthcare, IT, consumer durables, teck and BSE Focused IT were the gainers.

As many as 2,877 stocks declined while 1,139 advanced and 168 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Meanwhile, India's manufacturing sector growth started the year 2025 on a strong footing and touched a six-month high in January, fuelled by the steepest upturn in exports in nearly 14 years, a monthly survey said on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from December's one-year low of 56.4 to 57.7 in January supported by the fastest upturn in new export orders since February 2011.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled sharply lower.

Markets in Europe were trading with deep cuts. US markets ended lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.15 per cent to USD 76.50 a barrel.

The BSE Sensex had closed marginally up 5.39 points at 77,505.96 on Saturday. The Nifty dipped 26.25 points to 23,482.15. The domestic equity markets were open on Saturday due to the presentation of the Union Budget.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,327.09 crore on Saturday, according to exchange data. PTI SUM MR

Source: PTI