First Trade: Sensex declines 359 points, Nifty below 22,000 as Trump's tariffs take effect

Indian equity benchmarks in Tuesday's trade (March 4, 2025) opened lower tracking weak global cues as investor sentiment turned cautious after tariffs levied by US President Donald Trump on Mexico and Canada became effective today. At the open, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 0.49 per cent or 359.37 points at 72,726.57, while the Nifty50 index shed 0.63 per cent or 140.05 points at 21,979.25.

Meanwhile, broader markets also continued to underperform with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices declining over 1 per cent.

Sectorally, bank and financial services gauges traded with mild gains, while all others witnessed selling pressure.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "Uncertainty unleashed by Trump is aggravating in global trade. The 25 per cent tariff on Canada and Mexico and the 20 per cent tariff on China (with the additional 10% imposed now) kicking in the threats are turning into action. The retaliation to these Trump tariffs is yet to be known."

Stocks in focus

BSE 

The High Court is set to hear pleas of the current chairman and CEO of BSE, named in a case related to the alleged illegal listing of Calls Refineries back in 1994. After the stock's decline, the stock was up 3 per cent at Rs 4,502.7 per share.

Technicals

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services on Nifty outlook said, "Inability to clear 22350 on the bounce yesterday has exposed 21851, as feared. While we brace for a lower opening, resilience in the Nifty 50 components as well as an upward sloping MACD histogram encourages us to keep eying the prospects of bounce back, especially if we get back above 22142. Failure to do this could see continuation of downtrend with deeper support below 21851 seen at 20900."
 

Asian markets

Mirroring weak closing in the US markets in the overnight trade, Asian stocks traded lower. The MSCI Asia ex Japan was last down over 0.5 per cent.

The losses were triggered largely as Trump confirmed that 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico will take effect later in the day. Also, at the same time he signed an order for increasing levies on Chinese goods.