[Source: Reuters]

India’s stock benchmarks clocked their worst session in 10 months on Monday as a selloff fueled by U.S. tariffs intensified and investors dumped riskier assets on growing fears of a global recession.

The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab lost 3.24% to 22,161.1 and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab fell 2.95% to 73,137.9. Both benchmarks posted their biggest single-day declines since June 4, 2024.

Since the U.S. tariff announcement on April 2, the total market value of all NSE-listed companies has fallen by $280 billion in three sessions.

“Indian markets are unable to quantify the uncertainty unleashed by tariff war,” said Nilesh Shah, managing director at Kotak Mahindra Asset Management.

“The unfolding events will likely keep sellers on an aggressive sell mode and buyers on a reluctant buy mode.”

Foreign institutional investors sold Indian shares worth $1.05 billion on Monday, the highest daily outflow since February 28. Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors bought $1.41 billion of shares.

Other global markets slumped, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab losing 8.3%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (.N225), opens new tab dropped 7.8%, while European stocks plunged with Germany’s Dax (.CDAX), opens new tab falling 5.3% and the British FTSE (.FTSE), opens new tab shedding 4.1%.

President Donald Trump’s new tariffs are “larger than expected” and are likely to impact inflation and growth, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Friday, flagging an uncertain outlook for the U.S. economy.

S&P 500 futures slid nearly 5% in volatile trade on Monday, while Nasdaq futures dived 5.7%, adding to last week’s almost $6 trillion in U.S. equity market losses.

The Nifty volatility index (.NIFVIX), opens new tab – or the fear index – rose 66% to 22.79, the biggest daily rise in 10 years. It touched the highest level since June 5, 2024.

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