Traders take stock, expect market mood swings

MUMBAI: Markets are expected to remain volatile during the week as clarity among Dalal Street investors about the US tariffs on goods exported to the world's largest economy continues to remain elusive.

While most market players feel that the rate of tariff on Indian goods will not be much different from what it was earlier, some feel that the new tariff structure will put India at the same level with several other competing countries, a favourable situation than what it was before the US Supreme Court invalidated President Donald Trump's tariffs on Friday evening.

Late on Friday, after the US SC order and the subsequent announcement by Trump that he will impose a 10% tariff on all goods (for 150 days), the GIFT Nifty index rallied to close 320 points or 1.25% higher at 25,886 points. Traded on NSE's GIFT City platform till late into the night on all trading days, it usually gives an indication about how the Indian market would open the next day, provided there are no late-night or early-morning developments.

After the GIFT Nifty closed, Trump changed the tariff structure on Saturday to 15%. To add to the confusion, Neal Katyal, the US lawyer who won the tariff case against Trump, said the new tariff rate is also invalid under US laws.

Fund managers, however, assured jittery investors. According to Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, the street's expectation is that the US will use various provisions of law to keep tariffs almost unchanged. "Any change will be for the short term and hence unlikely to impact market direction materially," Shah said late on Saturday.

Samir Arora, the founder of Singapore-based Helios Capital that also has a domestic fund house with the same name, said on X that there was nothing wrong with the 15% rate of tariff as far as India was concerned.