Dalal Street caves in: Sensex slumps 931 pts, toll lower than peers
MUMBAI: Dalal Street, which weathered a contagion effect from the tariff-triggered global market meltdown on Thursday, caved in on Friday as selling around the world’s markets intensified that affected investor sentiment in the domestic market also.
After the US imposed a set of tariffs on almost all the countries around the world, China on Friday announced a 34% retaliatory tariff on all US goods entering the world’s second largest economy. The signs of an escalation of the trade war unnerved investors. As a result, the sensex closed 931 points or 1.2% lower at 75,365 points while Nifty closed 346 points or 1.5% down at 22,904 points.
The intense selling left investors poorer by Rs 10 lakh crore with BSE’s market cap at Rs 403.3 lakh crore. In the last two days since the US’s new tariff plans were proposed, BSE’s market cap has dipped by about Rs 9.6 lakh crore. On Friday, of the 30 sensex stocks, 24 closed lower. All the sectoral indices on BSE closed in the red, a rare instance.
Stock of companies which could face tariff pressures while exporting their goods to the US were hit hard. Along with auto and metal stocks, pharma stocks also witnessed intense selling pressure in Friday’s session. This came after Trump, after skipping to put any new tariffs on medicines on Wednesday night, on Thursday indicated that he may rethink his earlier decision. As a result, Lupin crashed 5.9%, Cipla lost 5.3%, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories closed 3.6% down while Sun Pharma was down 3.4%. In Thursday’s market, after Trump didn’t mention putting in new tariffs on pharma exports, most of these stocks had gained substantially.
Along with the pharma stocks, metal stocks also witnessed heavy selling. Nalco crashed 8.7% while Hindalco lost 8.1%. Among other metal stocks, Tata Steel lost 8.6%, SAIL was down 5%, JSW Steel was down 3.4% while Vedanta crashed 8.6%.
While foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net sold stocks worth Rs 3,484 crore, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) recorded net outflow of Rs 1,720 crore, BSE data showed.
