Mumbai, Feb 3: The domestic benchmark indices opened sharply lower on Monday, as Asian markets tumbled after US President Donald Trump announced trade tariffs which are set to come into effect from Tuesday.

At around 9.33 am, the Sensex was trading over 400 points down at 77,103.22 while the Nifty was down 154 points at 23,328.00.

At the opening bell, the Sensex shed 710 points or 0.88 per cent at 76,821.50. On the NSE, all sectors declined with Nifty Metal and Nifty Realty as the worst performing sector.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 1.3 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 was 2.4 per cent lower, South Korea's KOSPI tumbled 3 per cent and Australia's ASX 200 was 1.8 per cent lower.

On Saturday (US time), Trump announced he will impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent on goods from China starting from Tuesday. He also pledged to place new tariffs on goods from the European Union.

The US equity futures also saw a sharp sell-off in response to US president Donald Trump imposing tariffs.

“After a negative opening, Nifty can find support at 23,200 followed by 23,100 and 23,000. On the higher side, 23,500 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 23,600 and 23,700," said Hardik Matalia, Derivative Analyst, Choice Broking.

Rupee opened 41 paise lower at 87.02 against the US Dollar. It closed at 86.61 on Friday.

According to Vikram Kasat, Head-Advisory, PL Capital-Prabhudas Lilladher, Asia kicked off what is likely to be a volatile day in global markets after Trump followed through on his threat to hit Mexico, Canada and China with tariffs on imports into the United States.

“It will be fascinating to see how investors react to something they have known was coming and which is almost universally seen as damaging for economic growth and financial assets. They won't be surprised, but they will still be shocked,” he mentioned

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on February 1, as they offloaded equities worth Rs 1,327 crore, while domestic institutions bought equities worth Rs 824 crore on the same day.

Gold and silver witnessed high volatility last week and slipped from their highs amid strength in the dollar index and the beginning of the US trade tariff war.

“Gold and silver are holding their key support levels of $2,722 and $30.20 per troy ounce respectively on a weekly closing basis in the international markets,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities Ltd.

(IANS)

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