Indian stock markets opened to a dismal mood on Friday as US President Donald Trump froze all tariff talks with India, besides 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods taking effect. Markets are still reeling under the shock of his August 6 announcement to hike tariff on Indian imports to 50 per cent.
While the equity benchmarks had closed marginally higher in the previous session as buying gained momentum in the closing last hour of trade amid the weekly expiry of Nifty derivatives, Friday's trade saw declines, especially during mid-day trading.
The BSE Sensex fell 765.47 points, or 0.95 per cent to close at 79,857.79, while the NSE Nifty shed 232.85 points, or 0.95 per cent, to trade at 24,363.30.
Earlier during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 580 points to 80,093.47; and the 50-share NSE Nifty dropped to 24,434.30 amid non-stop foreign fund outflows.
Sectorally, eight of the 16 major sectors logged losses at opening. IT and banks were under pressure, with Nifty IT and Nifty Financial Services indices trading in the red.
Also Read: Last-hour buying propels markets
Among the Sensex stocks, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Bharat Electronics, Eternal, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank were among the top laggards.
BSE Midcap index was down nearly 1 percent and smallcap index was down 0.3 percent.
However, Titan, Bajaj Finance, NTPC and Bajaj Finserv were among the gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,997.19 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Domestic Institutional Investors (DII), however, bought stocks worth ₹10,864.04 crore in the previous trade.
Investors are calling the market technically and fundamentally weak, with little to no chances of a sharp uptick.
"From the fundamental perspective, there are no indications yet of a sharp uptick in earnings for FY26. These weak indicators, along with the relatively high valuations in India, are triggering sustained selling by the FIIs,” observed VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
While yesterday’s sharp 250-pts recovery in Nifty was caused by strong buying by DIIs of ₹10,864 crore, Vijayakumar said in the present context of negative sentiments in the market caused by the tariff skirmishes between India and the US, FIIs are likely to continue selling in the cash market.
"The only saving grace is the sustained DII buying, which remains strong,” he said.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index quoted in positive territory, while South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng traded lower.
The US markets ended on a mixed note on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.69 per cent to USD 66.42 a barrel.
On Thursday, the Sensex edged higher by 79.27 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 80,623.26. The Nifty went up by 21.95 points or 0.09 per cent to 24,596.15.
Follow us
