Monday mayhem: Sensex sinks 2,227 points as trade war fears engulf global markets

People walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building, in Mumbai on April 7, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Stock markets crumbled on Monday (April 7, 2025) with benchmark Sensex sinking by 2,226.79 points — its steepest single-day decline in 10 months — as a global market carnage following U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and retaliation from China fanned fears of economic slowdown.

Indian stock market crash updates on April 7, 2025

The 30-share BSE Sensex crashed 2,226.79 points or 2.95% to settle at 73,137.90, recording its third day of decline. During the day, the index slumped 3,939.68 points or 5.22% to 71,425.01.

The NSE Nifty tumbled 742.85 points or 3.24% to settle at 22,161.60. Intra-day, the benchmark dropped 1,160.8 points or 5.06% to 21,743.65.

All Sensex shares, except for Hindustan Unilever, ended with losses. Tata Steel fell the most by 7.33% followed by Larsen & Toubro which cracked 5.78%.

Tata Motors, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank were the other big laggards.

Hindustan Unilever ended marginally higher.

“The market tumbled as the carnage over high U.S. tariffs and the retaliation by other countries may kickstart a trade war. Sectors like IT and metals have underperformed relative to the broader market due to the risk of high inflation with slower growth that may result in a potential recession in the U.S.,” Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index tanked more than 13%, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 plunged nearly 8%, Shanghai SSE Composite index dropped over 7% and South Korea’s Kospi sank over 5%.

European markets too came under heavy selling pressure and were trading with up to 6% decline.

U.S. markets ended sharply lower on Friday. The S&P 500 dropped 5.97%, Nasdaq composite slumped 5.82% and the Dow tumbled 5.50% on Friday.

On June 4 last year, the Sensex nosedived 4,389.73 points or 5.74% to close at 72,079.05. In the day trade, the barometer tanked 6,234.35 points or 8.15% to 70,234.43.

The Nifty ended at 21,884.50, a sharp decline of 1,379.40 points or 5.93% on June 4, 2024. Intra-day it tumbled 1,982.45 points or 8.52% to 21,281.45.

Sensex and Nifty had previously declined by over 13% on March 23, 2020 when lockdown was imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Monday (April 7), the BSE smallcap gauge cracked 4.13%, and the midcap index tanked 3.46%.

All BSE sectoral indices ended with deep cuts. Metal tumbled 6.22%, realty dropped 5.69%, commodities (4.68%), industrials (4.57%), consumer discretionary (3.79%), auto (3.77%), bankex (3.37%), IT (2.92%), teck (2.85%) and BSE Focused IT (2.63%).

“Though the overall impact on India may be limited when compared with other countries, investors are advised to play cautiously during this fray,” Mr. Nair said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,483.98 crore on Friday (April 4), according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 3.61% to $63.21 a barrel.

Last week, the Sensex tanked 2,050.23 points or 2.64%, while the NSE Nifty declined 614.8 points or 2.61%.