Trade war concerns spook Street, smids closer to bear zone

Indian investors saw about ₹9.3 trillion wiped out in market wealth on Tuesday as Trump's latest tariffs, slower corporate earnings and a relentless selloff by foreign investors continued to rock the sentiment.

- Dipti Sharma & Ram Sahgal

Indian investors saw about ₹9.3 trillion wiped out in market wealth on Tuesday as Trump's latest tariffs, slower corporate earnings and a relentless selloff by foreign investors continued to rock the sentiment. Mid- and small-cap stocks took an even harder hit.

Benchmark indices fell for the fifth straight session, with the Nifty and BSE Sensex settling at two-week lows of 23,071.80 and 76,293.60 points respectively, each down 1.3%. During the day, the headline indices fell as much as 2%.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd weighed down the benchmarks. Among NSE sectoral indices, the Nifty Midsmall Financial Services index took the biggest hit, sliding nearly 4%, while the Nifty Midsmall Healthcare index followed with a 3.3% drop.

Provisional data shows foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded ₹4,486 crore in Indian equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stepped up with net purchases of ₹4,002 crore. While FIIs have net sold ₹98,393 crore worth of shares in the cash market year-to-date, DIIs purchased ₹99,383 crore but by bidding at lower prices, causing the correction.

Trump's trade war took centre stage as he signed orders imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from 12 March, ignoring warnings from Europe and China. The European Union and Canada quickly vowed retaliation, sparking global investor concerns.