MUMBAI: Fears of a trade war roiled stock markets globally as US President Donald Trump imposed higher tariffs on key trading partners, triggering retaliatory action by Canada and China, which made equities weak again. The impact was felt on Dalal Street too as the sensex closed below the 73,000 mark, while Nifty fell for the 10th consecutive session – its longest losing streak.
The rupee gained two paise to close at 87.3 against the dollar. Safe haven investments like the Swiss franc and the yen posted strong gains. Gold climbed above $2,920 an ounce. On MCX, gold contracts for April delivery increased by Rs 806 to Rs 86,190 per 10 grams.
The tariffs also saw oil prices drop with Brent crude, the international benchmark, dropping below $70 a barrel for the first time since Oct – sliding more than 2%.
While it opens the doors for Indian oil retailers to cut prices, govt has not given them the green signal for months, helping them pocket all the gains and share some of it with the Centre in the form of higher dividend and taxes.
From Tokyo to New York, equities were hit. In mid-session, all the three indices on Wall Street – Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S& – were down nearly 2% each.
The sensex closed 96 points lower at 72,990, recovering from the lows of 72,634, while Nifty dropped 37 point to 22,083 points. Foreign funds continued to be net sellers at about Rs 3,500 crore.
