After meltdown on Wall Street, Japan's Nikkei falls 9% in early trade: How did Indian stock market react?

The global stock market rout spurred off by tariff hikes announced by the US administration on April 2 continued on Monday (April 7).

Tracking the bloodbath on Wall Street on Friday (April 4), Asian markets recorded steep falls amide widespread sell-off.

READ MORE: US markets plunge as Trump defends tariffs, refuses trade concessions

Benchmark stock indices in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong took were among the hardest hit in early trade, diving over 8 per cent each.

Asian shares sink

Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei index, which had opened in the red by 625.61 points at 33,154.97, further sank to hit a 52-week low of 30,792.74 during early trade— down 8.84 per cent from the previous session’s closing level of 33,780.58.

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Things were similar, if not worse, for other Asian stock indices as well. Taiwan’s stocks dived nearly 10 per cent, as trading resumed following a long weekend.

Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted index, the Taiex, plunged 9.8 per cent at the open.

Markets in Hong Kong and China reacted not only to Donald Trump’s tariffs, but also Beijing’s retaliation to these duties.

Amid rising fears of a painful trade war, the Hang Seng Index dropped 9.28 per cent, or 2,119.76 points, to 20,730.05.

However, investors in mainland China held on to comparatively better sentiment as the Shanghai Composite Index shed only 4.21 per cent, or 140.84 points, to 3,201.17.

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South Korea’s Kospi was off 4.8 per cent in early trade.

What about Indian stock market?

Benchmark Indian indices rushed headfirst into the global stock market bloodbath on Monday (April 7), following key developments around tariffs hikes imposed by the US government on all major trading partners.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened at 71,449.94, sinking a staggering 5.19 per cent or 3914.75 points since last week’s closing levels.

The broader Nifty 50 index also fell 5 per cent or 1146.05 points since the previous session to open at 21,758.40.

Shares of Tata Group companies took massive hits— at 9:30 am, Tata Motors was down over 11 per cent while Tata Steel had tanked over 8 per cent.

IT sector stocks also took a heavy beating, with HCL Tech, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra all falling around 6 per cent each.

With inputs from agencies