NEW DELHI: Indian stock markets have continued their precipitous fall begun in February this year, with the benchmark Sensex diving by another 510 points on Friday to end the week at 33,176 points. Over the last week, the Sensex has fallen 1.26 per cent despite a brief upswing on Monday, and since February 1, the index has dropped 2,730.66 points or 7.6 per cent, while the Nifty has lost 7.4 per cent.
Friday’s sell-off was driven by more of the same set of factors that have been pressuring markets across the world over the past few weeks—global trade war fears stoked after US President Donald Trump’s announcement of steel import tariffs. The US challenging a few of India’s export schemes this week also did not help bolster sentiment, analysts pointed out.
On Friday, evolving domestic politics also played a part in depressing markets, with Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) withdrawing from the ruling coalition and moving a no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government.
“The markets slid as investors continued to remain cautious amid current issues in the US administration on global trade and domestic political uncertainties,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, noted.
The developments saw the 30-share Sensex dive by 509.54 points (1.51 per cent)—its biggest single day fall since February 6. Intra-day trade saw the index shuffling between 33,119.92 and 33,691.32 as metal, oil and gas, PSUs, power, auto and banking stocks recorded losses. The flagship index had lost 232.40 points in the previous three sessions.
The NSE Nifty, meanwhile, dipped below the 10,200-mark to hit a low of 10,180.25 before ending at 10,195.15, down by 165 points (1.59 per cent). Foreign portfolio investors had sold shares worth ‘705.40 crore on a net basis the previous day.
The sell-off was reflected in other Asian markets as concerns over a global trade war refused to dissipate. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.58 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.12 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.65 per cent.