Sensex, Nifty Likely To Drift Lower As Trade Worries Deepen

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to resume losses on Wednesday as hopes of a tariff delay faded and the escalation of tariff battle between the U.S. and China fueled worries over an economic recession globally.

U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with higher duties on roughly 60 trading partners that he dubbed the "worst offenders", dashing hopes for a last-minute agreement.

The White House said many countries are lining up at the negotiating table in hopes of striking deals, with Korea and Japan among the first countries to negotiate with the U.S. directly.

Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India will be announcing its interest rate decision at 10 AM today, with a 25-bps rate cut already priced in by markets.

Investors will closely monitor the commentary and a potential change in stance for future policy clues.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty jumped 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively on Tuesday, tracking a recovery in global markets.

The rupee fell by 42 paise to close at 86.26 against the dollar, driven by strong demand for dollars from importers and fresh outflows of foreign funds from Indian equity markets.

Foreign investors offloaded Indian shares worth Rs 4,994 crore on Tuesday, marking their seventh consecutive day of divestment, as per provisional data. On the other hand, domestic financial institutions accumulated shares valued at Rs 3,097 crore.

Asian markets fell sharply this morning, with Hong Kong and Japan leading losses. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said his country has ample policy tools to "fully offset" any negative external shocks.

The dollar weakened against the yen and Swiss franc while the offshore yuan rebounded after sinking to the lowest since it began trading in 2010. Gold ticked higher while oil extended its selloff.

U.S. stocks reversed a strong early rally to end sharply lower overnight as the White House said that it expects 104 percent tariffs on China to go into effect on Wednesday, when Trump's other "reciprocal tariffs" are also set to take effect.

The S&P 500 tumbled 1.6 percent to end below 5,000 points for the first time in almost a year, losing $5.83 trillion in market value and marking its steepest four-day drop since the index was created in the 1950s.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plummeted 2.2 percent and the Dow shed 0.8 percent. European stocks snapped a four-session losing streak on Tuesday amid hopes for a negotiated resolution to the trade conflict arising from U.S. tariffs.

The pan European STOXX 600 rallied 2.7 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index both surged by 2.5 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 soared 2.7 percent.