Indian shares fell on Friday with financial and energy stocks taking the brunt as fears of a trade war due to the imposition of US tariffs preyed on investors’ minds.
Asian stocks slid as reports of more chaos in the Trump administration tested investors’ nerves, already frayed by fears that US tariffs could hurt the global economy.
“It’s (market downtrend) a continuation of the general trend, we’re looking at a global overhang as well,” said Jayant Manglik, president, Religare Broking.
Meanwhile, India’s trade deficit narrowed to $12 billion in February, its lowest in five months, amid concerns that a global trade war could hit exports due to US President Donald Trump’s decision to hike import taxes on steel and aluminium.
The broader NSE Nifty was down 0.55 per cent at 10,303.10 as of 0534 GMT.
The benchmark BSE Sensex was 0.56 per cent lower at 33,495.26.
Both indexes are poised to end the week higher, after two spells of weekly losses.
The Nifty Energy index fell for the third consecutive session, having lost nearly 2 per cent in the past two sessions. Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd were down over 2 per cent each.
According to Reuters, financial stocks continued their downtrend, with Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd leading the falls on the NSE index.
Religare Enterprises Ltd shares pared losses, having earlier shed nearly 5 per cent after Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd terminated its deal to buy Religare’s securities business for want of necessary approvals. Edelweiss shares gained marginally.
Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd was the top percentage gainer, rising as much as 2.3 per cent after Jefferies upgraded the stock to ‘buy’.