Global markets remain jittery, with investor sentiment showing little sign of relief despite US President Donald Trump’s partial rollback of trade tariffs. Wednesday's rally on Wall Street proved short-lived, as US stocks slipped again on Thursday. Futures point to further weakness, with Asian indices following suit. Indian markets, which remained closed on Thursday for a public holiday, are expected to open higher on Friday, tracking gains in domestic derivatives.
Trump escalated the trade conflict with China by raising tariffs to 125% on Chinese goods and 120% on smaller parcels, exacerbating fears of a prolonged trade war. Markets are unnerved by the unpredictability of US policy, with no clear roadmap or resolution in sight.
As risk aversion deepens, investors are moving away from US assets and piling into safe havens like gold. In just two days, gold surged over 7%, reaching $3,200 per ounce. Meanwhile, the US dollar index slipped over 3%, falling below 100. Yields on US Treasuries approached 4.5%, prompting a flight to safety.
The Gift Nifty closed at 23,390 on Wednesday night, fell to 23,033 on Thursday night, and dipped to 22,862 early Friday before rebounding above 22,950. This points to a possible 450-point gap-up opening for the Nifty on Friday.
However, US futures remain in the red—Dow down 1.13%, S&P 500 down 1.26%, and Nasdaq sliding 1.51%. European markets closed nearly 5% higher on Thursday after a weak Wednesday session.
Japan’s Nikkei rose 9% on Thursday but opened on Friday with a sharp 5.4% decline. South Korea’s Kospi also edged lower. Indian markets too closed lower on Wednesday amid global uncertainty and lack of optimism over the US-China trade talks.
The Nifty dropped 136.70 points (0.61%) to 22,399.15, while the Sensex fell 379.93 points (0.57%) to 73,847.15. The Bank Nifty declined 0.54% to close at 50,240.15. Mid-cap and small-cap indices lost 0.51% and 0.86% respectively.
Market breadth favoured declines: on BSE, 2,442 stocks declined against 1,445 gainers; on NSE, 1,747 fell while 1,083 advanced. Only 19 stocks hit 52-week highs on NSE, while 45 hit lows.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,358 crore in the cash segment on Wednesday. Domestic funds bought ₹2,976 crore worth of shares.
TCS reported a 1.6% drop in Q4 profit. Meanwhile, the RBI’s monetary policy disappointed the street, with concerns emerging that private banks may see margin compression. RBI Governor’s remarks on a unified framework for gold loan regulation also dragged down gold loan firms—Muthoot Finance fell 6.7%.
Gold surged again amid fears that the trade war could trigger a global slowdown. After a 3% gain on Wednesday to $3,084 per ounce, prices jumped another 3% to touch an intraday high of $3,235 on Thursday. Spot gold closed at $3,178.20 in New York and rose further to $3,210 in early Asian trade. Traders cited heightened demand for safe-haven assets, with a $215 (6.5%) rise over two days being among the sharpest in recent history.
In Kerala, gold prices jumped ₹520 on Wednesday to ₹66,320 per sovereign, followed by a record ₹2,160 spike on Thursday, reaching an all-time high of ₹68,480.
Silver also gained, rising to $31.25 an ounce. Crude oil prices seesawed, falling on Wednesday due to tariff fears but rebounding Thursday after Trump’s reversal.
The US dollar index, after choppy trade, closed Wednesday at 102.90, dropped to 100.87 on Thursday, and briefly touched 99.97 on Friday morning. The euro rose to $1.131, while the pound touched $1.30.
The rupee continued to weaken, falling 43 paise to close at ₹86.69 per dollar. China’s yuan strengthened from 7.35 to 7.31 against the dollar.
Cryptocurrencies remained under pressure. Bitcoin fell below $79,500, while Ethereum dropped to $1,520.
