US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have unleashed chaos across the globe, plunging the Indian equity markets to their 10-month low and wiping out investor wealth of over Rs 20 lakh crore within seconds. Sensex opened nearly 4,000 points lower, sliding over 3.5% since its last trading session, while Nifty tanked over 1,000 points this morning. The crash follows a massive sell-off in Asian equities, panicked by Trump’s radical policies, and US futures pointing at significant losses when it resumes trading this evening. European markets too have slumped as panic selling continued.
Sensex crashed 3, 939.68 points to 71,425.01 in early trade as trading resumed at 9 am after the weekend holidays. Nifty tumbled 1,160.8 points to 21,743.65 during this period. Sensex, a pack of India’s top 30 companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, was down over 3,000 points at noon, while Nifty, the National Stock Exchange index, dropped below the 22,000 mark.
The rupee also opened lower this morning, falling 30 paise to 85.74 against the US dollar.
Analysts suggest Trump’s tariffs were bound to cause fears in Indian markets and that the country now needs financial reforms to protect its domestic economy from the global trade war.
