Clarity has emerged in India’s equity, currency and precious metal indices after U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a social media post late on Monday (February 2, 2026) that the reciprocal tariff on Indian imports would be reduced to 18%.
The Indian rupee emerged as the best-performing Asian currency on Tuesday (February 3. 2026), registering a record gain of 117 paise or 1.28% in a single trading session to settle at 90.32 against the U.S. dollar, after India and the U.S. agreed to a trade deal.
In response to the announcement, India’s benchmark Nifty50 index increased 2.5%, the most in nine months, to 25,727.55 points on Tuesday.
Ever since the U.S. announced the reciprocal tariffs, Indian markets have been awaiting clarity on the trade deal.
While equity markets swayed, currency traders were losing confidence and the safe haven demand for gold exacerbated over and above the existing global central bank purchases.
The safe haven demand for gold has now subsided as the increase was exacerbated by the uncertainty that came from the tariffs. Though the yellow metal crashed 4.55% to $4,777 an ounce, it rebounded sharply by 5% to close at about ₹4,950 an ounce.
Published – February 04, 2026 05:21 am IST
