The last day of the financial year saw global stock markets in the US, Europe and Asia tumbling amid intensifying worries about the impact of US tariffs that have raised fears of a global economic slowdown and a spike in inflation.

The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange were closed for trading on Monday due to Eid-al-Fitr.

With President Donald Trump stressing on Sunday that reciprocal tariffs, which he is set to announce this week, will include all nations, the impact was felt across bourses that succumbed to heavy selling pressures.

“Quite a lot of negativity has been priced in, but markets are bracing for the worst to come,” Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com was quoted in a Reuters report. “The messaging around tariffs softening seems highly unlikely, given Trump’s comments over the weekend.”

The three major US indices were set for big monthly and quarterly declines, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq set for their worst quarterly performances in about three years.

The blue-chip Dow index was teetering just about 2 per cent away from confirming a correction, or a 10 per cent decline from its all-time high.

European and Asian markets also slumped. The Stoxx 600 index retreated almost 2 per cent. Japan’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 stock average fell 4.05 per cent to enter a correction as exporter and chip-related stocks were hammered.

Amid the doom in the bourses, there was speculation that the trade war will spur more interest-rate cuts at the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. Ten-year Treasuries dropped six basis points to about 4.19 per cent on Monday, while bond yields fell about three basis points, reported Bloomberg.

With inputs from Reuters