Indian equities, currency, bonds stable amid global spin

It's possible that the impact of tariffs was already priced in, leading to a softer market reaction

- Dipti Sharma & Shayan Ghosh

Indian equities, bonds and currency showed some resilience even as US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs sent global markets into a tailspin.

Trump fired up global trade tensions by announcing a baseline 10% tariff on all imports starting 5 April, with reciprocal tariffs on specific countries from 9 April. India will be hit with a 27% additional tariff, while China's rate soars to 54%, up from the previous 20%.

Gift Nifty futures took a hit early on Thursday morning, dropping nearly 2%, while Indian benchmark indices Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex fell 1% in pre-open trade. However, Nifty 50 and Sensex later trimmed some losses, ending the day's trade 0.35% and 0.42% lower, respectively.

According to provisional data from BSE, FIIs net sold Indian equities worth ₹2,806 crore, but DIIs net purchased ₹221.47 crore on Thursday.

In comparison, Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 2.77%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.52% lower, and South Korea's Kospi was down 0.76%.

Market watchers said it's possible that the impact of tariffs was already priced in, leading to a softer reaction in Indian equities compared to global indices.