Why did Sensex and Nifty close in the red for the 4th consecutive session today? 5 points

Sensex closed nearly 550 points lower while Nifty ended the day close to 0.80% lower from its previous close, marking the fourth consecutive day of decline

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed in the red today, marking the fourth consecutive session of decline. While Sensex closed nearly 550 points or 0.70% lower at 77,311.80, Nifty ended over 178 points or 0.76% lower at 23,381.60.

Sensex and Nifty continued to bleed for the fourth consecutive session on Monday(Bloomberg)

What led to the indices' decline?

Trump tariff concerns: US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports. This not only escalated trade tensions, which further increased skepticism among traders on global commodity prices. He also hinted that US may impose reciprocal tariffs on countries that tax US imports, following his earlier order to impose similar taxes on China, Mexico and Canada. He'd imposed temporary pause on the taxes imposed on China and Mexico.

Weak rupee: The Indian rupee also depreciated 45 paise to a record low of 87.85 against the US dollar, days after it had crossed the 87 mark against the greenback for the first time ever. This was primarily because the dollar strengthened, rising to 108 on the dollar index, over Trump's tariff announcement.

Q3 earnings: Corporate earnings reported for the October-December 2024 quarter by multiple Indian companies have been unsuccessful in lifting market sentiments, with companies like ITC, Swiggy and NHPC reporting a decline in net profit.

Metal stocks drag indices: Major metal stocks were among the worst performers. This was a likely result of US President Trump's tariff announcement, following which the Nifty Metal index dipped 2.94%.

Rising bond yields: Yields on 10-year India Government Bonds rose 2% to 6.83% on Monday, reflecting risk averse nature of investors as they're moving towards safer investment options, like bonds, instead of equities.

How did markets perform?

Power Grid Corporation of India, Tata Steel, Zomato, Titan, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, Bajaj Finance, Adani Enterprises and NTPC were among the top losers on both Sensex and Nifty, falling up to 4.5% at close. Meanwhile, even the day's top gainers like Kotak Mahindra Bank were able to rise only as much as 1.74%.

192 Sensex stocks hit their 52-week lows as compared to only 114 stocks that hit their 52-week highs. Meanwhile, a staggering 127 Nifty stocks hit the lower limits while only 24 Nifty stocks hit 52-week highs.