Black Friday on D-street, Nifty may open below 10,000-mark

Indian markets are expected to open with a sharp fall following sell-off in the global markets after Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese goods imports, while China responded with retaliatory tariffs of $3 bn on 128 US products,  triggering a trade war between the two countries. The SGX Nifty is pointing to a gap-down opening, and Nifty is expected to open below the important psychological mark of 10,000.   

It is a sea of red on the Asian indices in the morning trading session, reflecting the current weak sentiments in the market amid a tit-for-tat response from China. This could escalate into a trade war leading to an industrial slowdown. Japan’s benchmark index Nikkei 225 has plunged 3.67%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has nosedived 3.24% and China’s Shanghai Composite has slipped 2.51%.     

Back home, equity benchmarks tumbled on Thursday, with PSU banks, media and realty stocks coming under heavy selling pressure. Markets started the session on an optimistic note as traders took some encouragement from Asian peers; however, markets gave up the opening gains and ended the session near the day’s low. Nifty settled at 10,115, down 0.40% and BSE Sensex closed at 33,006, lower by 0.39%. The broader indices underperformed the benchmark indices with Nifty Mid-cap and Nifty Small-cap declining 0.84% and 1.44%, respectively.   

The US stocks plunged on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average sinking more than 700 points. The equity sell-off reached a feverish pitch amid fear of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies as the Trump administration announced plans to impose tariffs on up to $60 bn on annual imports from China. The Dow dropped 723 points to end at 23,958, the S&P 500 tumbled 68 points to close at 2,644 and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 179 points to finish at 7,166.68. The Cboe Volatility Index jumped about 31% to 23.34.       

The European markets ended sharply lower on Thursday. Poor Eurozone private sector data and weak German business weighed heavily on the market sentiments. The monetary policy committee of the Bank of England decided to leave the benchmark rate unchanged in a split vote, boosting hopes for a potential rate hike in May. Germany’s DAX index fell 1.70%, France’s CAC 40 index declined 1.38% and UK's FTSE 100 dropped 1.23%.