Tata Steel tumbles 7%, Metal index down 7% as Trump tariff rattles Dalal Street

Dalal Street clocks its biggest fall in 10 months on tariff jitters.

Metal stocks plunged sharply on April 7 of rising uncertainty over retaliations to Trump's tariffs, with heavyweight Tata Steel crashing 10 percent to hit the lower circuit in the morning, as a strong downturn pulled Nifty Metal index lower by nearly 7 percent to a one-year low on April 7.

The fall in the metal stocks is in-line with the overall weakness, following the major crash on Monday morning, as US President Trump's reciprocal tariffs rattled global markets and triggered fears of a tariff war. As a result of the uncertainty, the US index futures too are under selling pressure, with S&P 500 futures lower by 4 percent as of 10:00 am.

Tata Steel shares later made some recovery, to close nearly 7 percent lower at Rs 130.20 apiece.

Lloyds Metals and Energy shares plunged nearly 9 percent, while National Aluminium Company, JSW Steel and Hindustan Copper closed nearly 8 percent lower. SAIL, Vedanta Limited and Hindalco shares plunged nearly 6 percent.

Adani Enterprises, NMDC, Welspun Corp and other metal stocks also ended the session in the deep red, with losses more than 2 percent.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services said, "Globally markets are going through heightened volatility caused by extreme uncertainty. No one has a clue about how this turbulence caused by Trump tariffs will evolve.  Wait and watch would be the best strategy in this turbulent phase of the market."

Vijayakumar added that investors should bear in mind that the uncertainty may not last too long, and India has been relatively better-placed than most Asian peers. "There are a few things that investors should keep in mind. One, the irrational Trump tariffs will not continue for long. Two, India is relatively better placed since India’s exports to the US as percentage of GDP is only around 2 percent and therefore the impact on India’s growth will not be significant. Three, India is negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement with the US and this is likely to be successful resulting in lower tariffs for India."

US President Trump had imposed 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum imports earlier in March, and hinted at tariff on copper imports as well. While his recent reciprocal tariff announcement didn't include metals, investors are concerned over the impact as countries like China retaliate to US tariffs, resulting in trade wars.