Market wrap, March 4: NIFTY50 falls for 10th session, SENSEX settles below 73K level on trade war jitters

Following global cues, the equity benchmark indices on Tuesday, March 4, closed lower for the 10th straight session. Market participants remained jittery amid new developments on the trade war and foreign fund outflows.

US President Donald Trump announced Monday that the US will impose 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada starting Tuesday, pushing the region closer to a trade war and sending financial markets into turmoil.

The tariffs, which affect more than $900 billion in annual US imports from its two largest trading partners, triggered a selloff in global stocks and a sharp drop in bond yields.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 72,989.93, falling 96.01 points, or 0.13%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 22,082.65, down 36.65 points, or 0.17%.

This is the first time the Sensex closed below the 73,000 level since June 4, 2024, when it settled at 72,079. NIFTY50 have declined 920 points, or 4%, in the last 10 trading session.

Market breadth was largely in favour of positives, as 1,658 stocks advanced on the NSE out of 2,955 stocks traded during the session.

Meanwhile, the broader market closed positive, outperforming the benchmark indices.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,788.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. The foreign investors have pulled out ₹34,574 crore from the Indian equity markets in February, pushing total outflows to ₹1.12 lakh crore in the first two months of 2025.

Globally, European and Asian shares were mostly lower Tuesday after a new round of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump took effect.

China hit back at Washington's move to raise tariffs by 20% across the board with higher duties of up to 15% on US farm exports.

Germany's DAX slipped 1.8% to 22,733.26, while in Paris the CAC 40 declined 1.1% to 8,108.71. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.4% to 8,837.92.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.2% to 37,331.18, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.4% to 22,922.16. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher to 3,324.21. South Korea's Kospi gave up 0.2% to 2,528.92. Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.7%, while Bangkok's SET lost 1.1%.

On Monday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.8% after Trump said there was “no room left” for negotiations that could lower the tariffs that took effect Tuesday for imports from Canada and Mexico. Trump had already delayed the tariffs once before to allow more time for talks.

The Dow dropped 1.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite slumped 2.6%.

As many as 2,955 stocks traded on the NSE on Tuesday. Out of this, 1,658 advanced and 1,215 stocks declined, while 82 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 13 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 487 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 95 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 184 touched their lower circuit bands on Tuesday.

The broader market settled positive on Tuesday outperforming the main indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 ended with marginal gains of 0.05% at 48,007.85 while Nifty Smallcap 100 closed 0.69% higher at 14,762.60.

Nifty Auto (-1.31%) was the biggest loser among all the sectors followed by Nifty Midsmall IT and Telecom (-0.92%), Nifty IT (-0.90%), Nifty FMCG (-0.52%) and Nifty Pharma (-0.30%).

Meanwhile, Nifty Media (2.37%), Nifty PSU Bank (1.56%), Nifty Midsmall Healthcare (0.83%), Nifty Oil and Gas (0.66%) and Nifty Consumer Durables (0.39%) were the gainers.

As many as 28 stocks on the NIFTY50 index traded negative, while the only 22 closed in green. The biggest laggards on the index were Bajaj Auto, Hero MotorCorp, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies and Eicher Motors, declining as much as 4.95%.

On the flip side, the top five gainers were State Bank of India, BPCL, Bharat Electronics, Shriram Finance and Adani Enterprises, contributing as much as 3.03% on the 50-share index.