Nishanth Vasudevan

The sell-off through the second half of the financial year also took a toll on broader market. For the full fiscal year, the Nifty Mid-cap 150 index rose 5.7%, and the Small-cap 250 gained 2.3%.

The recent turbulent ride in local equities that pushed investors to the edge could spill over to the new financial year as nervous market participants worldwide brace for Donald Trump's unveiling of a slew of tariffs on April 2.

Since April 2, when he unleashed the slew of tariffs on imports from various countries, global equities have revolted with US stocks alone losing about $6.6 trillion in market value on Thursday and Friday. After being relatively indifferent to the US announcements on Thursday, Indian markets joined in on Friday, shedding ₹10 lakh crore in a single day.

Since April 2, when he unleashed the slew of tariffs on imports from various countries, global equities have revolted with US stocks alone losing about $6.6 trillion in market value on Thursday and Friday. After being relatively indifferent to the US announcements on Thursday, Indian markets joined in on Friday, shedding ₹10 lakh crore in a single day.

After more than a week of traumatising global markets with talk of implementing huge tariffs, Donald Trump did a volte face on Wednesday night pausing their implementation on all countries but one: China. It sparked a huge comeback rally in a battered Wall Street. But is this a sustainable turnaround or just a short-lived rebound? On The Morning Brief, ET’s Markets Editor Nishanth Vasudevan speaks to Sankaran Naren, CIO of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, to explore the broader impact of this policy u-turn, the escalating US-China trade tensions, and the implications for Indian markets. Drawing on over three decades of experience, Naren offers valuable perspectives on investment strategy, asset allocation, and whether India can outperform amid global volatility.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering a broad regulatory overhaul to make compliance less onerous and norms more relevant, chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said in an interview.

The US Treasury is considered to be the world's topmost risk-free asset. So, when the US Treasury yields started to go up, it rang alarm bells around the entire world. There is a lot of refinancing of the debt, which is due in the next one year by governments and corporates across the world. It's as though the global central banks are tightening; it has that kind of an impact. We would like to see US Treasury yields correct, particularly when equity markets correct.

Viktor Shvets of Macquarie Capital suggests the US faces a period resembling stagflation, not outright recession, due to Donald Trump's policies aimed at reshaping American society. He notes that India's economic growth, while strong, needs recalibration and structural reforms to achieve its potential.

For the Indian equity markets to go from strength to strength, there have to be stronger drivers. And that could be something that is missing. And if you accompany that with rich valuations, then that could set the stage for the upside prospects to be quite limited. So, there's a need to be really selective, increasingly so now than previously. That is the formula to get more returns out of Indian assets.

Stock market weakness impacted the portfolios of India's top investors in the March quarter. Rekha Jhunjhunwala, Mukul Agrawal, and others saw significant declines. Portfolio values decreased between 5% and 31%. Madhusudan Kela and Ashish Dhawan's portfolios were relatively stable. Few major investors made fresh purchases exceeding 1% during this period. The data reflects a challenging quarter for prominent individual investors.