Black Monday: Sensex sinks 2,227 points as trade war fears engulf global markets

In what appears to be a black Monday following US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and retaliation from China causing fears of financial slowdown, the stock markets witnessed a bloodshed on Monday with benchmark Sensex dipping by 2,226.79 points to hit a 10-month low.

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Crashing for the third consecutive day, the 30-share BSE Sensex slumped 2,226.79 points or 2.95 per cent to settle at 73,137.90. The index crashed 3,939.68 points or 5.22 per cent to 71,425.01 intra-day.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty dropped 742.85 points or 3.24 per cent to settle at 22,161.60, while the benchmark tumbled 1,160.8 points or 5.06 per cent to 21,743.65 during the day.

With Hindustan Unilever turning out to be an exception and closing marginally high, all Sensex stocks closed in losses. Tata Steel led the chart of losers by crashing 7.33 per cent. Larsen & Toubro declined 5.78 per cent, while Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank also crashed substantially to end as the prominent laggards.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said the market crashed following the bloodshed over steep US tariffs and the retaliation by other countries fearing a potential trade war. “Following the risk of high inflation with slower growth that is likely to result in a potential slump in the US, several sectors, including IT and metals, have disappointed compared to the broader market,” he opined, while divulging that the shares of 3,515 companies crashed, 570 progressed and 140 remained steady on the BSE.

While 775 stocks recorded their 52-week lows, 59 companies rose to touch their 52-week highs on the BSE.

Prashanth Tapse, Senior V-P (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said it was obvious for other global equity markets to crash following the crashing of US markets on Friday. “Amid worries of major economic slowdown and high inflation due to high reciprocal tariffs announced by the US, the commodity prices of crude oil and several metals are already under immense pressure,” he added.

Past bloodshed

On June 4, 2024, the Sensex had crashed 4,389.73 points or 5.74 per cent to close at 72,079.05. During the intra-day trade, the indices had fallen 6,234.35 points or 8.15 per cent to 70,234.43. On that day, the Nifty had crashed 1,379.40 points or 5.93 per cent to close at 21,884.50. It had tanked 1,982.45 points or 8.52 per cent to 21,281.45 during that day.

Earlier, on March 23, 2020, when lockdown was clamped in the country following the Covid pandemic outbreak, the Sensex and Nifty had tumbled by over 13 per cent.

Smallcap crashes 4.13%, midcap 3.46%

The BSE smallcap index crashed 4.13 per cent, while the midcap gauge tumbled 3.46 per cent on Monday.

With all BSE sectoral indices closing with major dips, metal cracked 6.22 per cent, realty lost 5.69 per cent, commodities 4.68 per cent, industrials 4.57 per cent, consumer discretionary 3.79 per cent, auto 3.77 per cent, banks 3.37 per cent, IT 2.92 per cent, tech 2.85 per cent and BSE Focused IT crashed 2.63 per cent.