Stock Market Crash: Donald Trump's Tarrif Announcement Makes Investors Poorer by Rs.20.16 Lakh Crore

It’s bloodbath on Monday! BSE Sensex and Nifty50, the Indian equity benchmark indices, crashed in trade on Monday. Both stock market indices plunged over 4%. At 10:41 AM, BSE Sensex was trading at 72,505.18, down 2,860 points or 3.79%. Nifty50 was at 21,975.90, down 929 points or 4.05%.Investors’ wealth eroded sharply by Rs 20.16 lakh crore on Monday morning as the benchmark indices faced heavy drubbing, with the Sensex dropping over 5 per cent, amid a global market meltdown due to growing trade war concerns. The 30-share BSE benchmark tumbled 3,939.68 points or 5.22 per cent to 71,425.01 in early trade. Mirroring the bearish trend in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms declined sharply by Rs 20,16,293.53 crore to Rs 3,83,18,592.93 crore (USD 4.50 trillion) during the morning trade. All the Sensex firms were trading lower. Tata Steel and Tata Motors dropped over 10 per cent each. Larsen & Toubro, HCL Technologies, Adani Ports, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries and Mahindra & Mahindra were the other big laggards. In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tanked more than 11 per cent, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 plunged 7 per cent, Shanghai SSE Composite index dropped nearly 7 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi sank over 5 per cent.US markets ended significantly lower on Friday. The S&P 500 tanked 5.97 per cent, Nasdaq composite slumped 5.82 per cent, and the Dow tumbled 5.50 per cent on Friday. 

Also Read: Asian stock markets crash: China, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets top losers

The broader markets saw even sharper cuts, as the BSE Midcap index tanked over 8% to 37,203.21 while the BSE Smallcap index lost 10.5% to hit a low of 41,013.68.The advance-decline ratio was at 1:10, signaling that for every one stock that traded in the green, at least ten were in the red, highlighting the extent of the weakness in the Indian stock market. The fear gauge India VIX also spiked, surging 54.98% to 21.32.Sectorally, too, none of the indices were spared. All 13 major sectors on the NSE traded with losses, with Nifty Metal leading the losers pack amid fears that a US recession will slow down industrial demand. Additionally, the IT pack also suffered significant losses given the US-facing nature of the companies that are part of the Nifty IT pack. Defensives like FMCG and pharma also tanked, but the quantum of loss was slightly lower.The ripples of Trump's trade policies were felt across the globe, as Asian markets witnessed their worst single-day fall in 16 years.