It was waiting to happen. Even then, US president Donald Trump’s first missive in a global trade war has sent India’s stock markets plunging.
The Sensex spiralled down over 430 points, about 1.3%, in early trade on March.23, mirroring the panic in other global markets. Its Asian peers nosedived, led by the index in Shanghai which tumbled over 3%. In Japan, Nikkei fell by up to 4.6%. The Yen strengthened to a two-year high and that could be damning for the export-dependent Japanese economy. Meanwhile, following a 700-point fall in the Dow Jones index on March 22, the US stock futures signalled a further 2.5% fall in the S&P 500, the sharpest drop in six weeks.