Jitters over US President Donald Trump’s India tariffs and non-stop foreign fund outflows tumbled equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Friday, with the former tanking 765.47 points or 0.95 per cent to settle at 79,857.79.
The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 232.85 points or 0.95 per cent to 24,363.30, according to figures mentioned in a PTI news agency report.
On a weekly basis, the Nifty fell 0.8 per cent, while the Sensex lost 0.9 per cent. This marks the longest losing streak for the benchmarks since April 2020, according to a Reuters report.
Thursday saw a sharp decline in investor wealth due to a market-wide sell-off on the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). Market Capitalisation (m-cap) refers to the total value of all listed companies’ shares on the exchange.
On Thursday, the total m-cap of all BSE-listed companies fell from ₹445 lakh crore to ₹440 lakh crore, a drop of ₹5 lakh crore in a single trading session, according to bseindia.com.
Trump’s India tariffs
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled India tariffs to 50 per cent citing Russian oil purchase. Trump imposed 50 per cent tariff on India in two phases, a 25 per cent levy was first announced on July 30 and the additional 25 per cent announced on Wednesday.
Donald Trump signed an executive order – Addressing Threats to the US by the Government of the Russian Federation – imposing the additional tariff over and above the 25 per cent levy which comes into effect from August 7.
The laggards among the 30-share BSE Sensex firms were: Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries.
The biggest gainers in Sensex firms on Friday were NTPC, Titan, Trent, ITC and Bajaj Finserv.
On Thursday, the benchmarks slipped to three-month lows, after the initial 25 per cent tariffs announced by the US on Indian imports came into effect, heightening trade tensions.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹4,997.19 crore on Thursday, as per exchange data cited in the PTI report. In contrast, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth ₹10,864.04 crore during the same session.
Among Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed in the green, while South Korea’s Kospi, China’s Shanghai Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended in the red. European markets traded mostly higher, whereas US indices closed mixed on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.59 per cent to $66.82 per barrel.
