Markets open in red amid Trump’s tariff move on India; Sensex sheds nearly 600 points

Mumbai: Indian equity markets opened sharply lower on Thursday, reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of fresh tariffs.

The BSE Sensex plunged 594.99 points in early trade, currently hovering at 80,882.18. The NSE Nifty also slipped by 139.75 points, trading at 24,644.65.

On Wednesday, the rupee plunged 89 paise, logging its steepest single-day fall in over three years, and closed at an all-time low of 87.80 against the US dollar.

According to a Moneycontrol report, major Nifty losers include Tata Motors, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, and Titan Company. On the gaining side, Jio Financial, SBI Life Insurance, and Tata Steel saw some positive movement.

All sectoral indices were trading in the red, with auto, capital goods, telecom, and oil & gas sectors down around 1 per cent each. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices also slipped nearly 1 per cent.

At 9:27 am, Sensex was down 487 points or 0.60 per cent at 80,994, and Nifty was down 140 points or 0.57 per cent at 24,717.

Selling pressure was also seen in midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 457 points or 0.79 per cent at 57,484 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was down 100 points or 0.55 per cent at 18,037.

Almost all sectoral indices turned red in morning trade. Auto, energy, pharma, PSU Bank, financial services, metal, realty and PSE were top laggards.

In the Sensex pack, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Infosys, HCL Tech, Titan, SBI, TCS, ICICI Bank, Trent, L&T, HDFC Bank and NTPC were top losers. Eternal, Power Grid, Tata Steel, ITC and HUL were top gainers.

In terms of institutional activity, foreign institutional investors (Flls) extended their selling streak for the eighth consecutive session on July 30, offloading equities worth Rs 850 crore. Conversely, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) maintained their buying momentum for the 18th straight session, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,829 crore on the same day. (With inputs from IANS)