Indian Markets Poised For Gap-Up Start On Apr 11; GIFT Nifty Pops 3% On Trump's Tariff Pause

Indian equity markets are set to resume trading on April 11 with a sharp gap-up start as investors cheer for Trump’s decision to hold off reciprocal tariffs for 90-days on all trade partners, except China. The announcement had brought a stellar relief rally across global markets today.

While the Indian stock market remained closed for trading today due to Mahavir Jayanti, Gift Nifty futures shot up as much as 845 points or 3.8 percent at its day high from its Wednesday's closing of 22,487.

Provided that no negative developments come across, the domestic market looks poised to mirror the solid gains seen across global markets today and inch sharply higher.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 zoomed 9.5% to log in its steepest single day gains since 2008, whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared nearly 8%. The real winner however, was the battered tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which recorded the sharpest rebound and shot up over 12% to register its second-biggest single-day gain in history.

Building on the enthusiasm, Asian markets followed the footsteps, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbing 8%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 6%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 3% and China’s Shanghai Composite was up 1%.

The respite comes after the recent market rout wiped out trillions of dollars from global capital markets. After rejecting the idea of any respite on tariffs multiple times, Trump surprised investors when he ended up announcing a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs. Now while this reversal is not absolute as a 10% blanket tariff still applies to all US imports, it did give countries including India, time to negotiate terms with the US.

In a contrasting move, however, Trump doubled down on tariffs on China, increasing it to 125% after the latter slapped 84% levies on all American imports in retaliation. The worsening trade relation between two of the world’s largest economies remains a matter of concerns that can have ripple effects on the overall global economy.

Meanwhile, following China’s offensive, the European Union also walked the talk and imposed 25% tariffs covering US imports worth €20bn in response to duties on steel and aluminium.

As for the previous session, both the Sensex and Nifty closed lower, weighed down by global weakness, despite the Reserve Bank of India’s decision slash repo rates by 25 basis points for the second time in a row.