Market Wrap, August 1: SENSEX falls 586 points, NIFTY50 ends below 24,600; NSE-listed firms lose over ₹5 lakh crore

The Indian stock market settled lower for the second consecutive day on Friday, August 1, amid weak global cues as US tariff imposition kept market investors worried.

India is to face tariffs of 25% on its exports to the US as President Donald Trump issued an executive order listing the various duties that Washington will impose on exports from countries around the world. Meanwhile, while August 1 was the tariff deadline, the new levies will come into effect from August 7.

The equity benchmark indices have slipped for the fifth straight week—their longest losing streak in two years, with Sensex and NIFTY50 each falling 1%. The Nifty Bank and Midcap indices have declined 2% each during the week.

The pharma stocks were the major losers in Friday’s session, followed by metal and IT stocks.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹5,588.91 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹6,372.71 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, the stocks in Asia were seen subdued for the sixth consecutive session on Friday as US President Donald Trump modified tariff rates. In the Executive Order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates,’ Trump announced tariff rates for nearly 70 nations.

South Korea's KOSPI plunged 4.04%, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.55%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 1.38%, and the Shanghai Composite closed 0.37% lower.

On Wall Street, stocks settled lower on Thursday following the latest round of corporate earnings and economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 330.30 points, or 0.74%, to close at 44,130.98; the S&P 500 fell 23.51 points, or 0.37%, to 6,339.39; and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 7.23 points, or 0.03%, to end at 21,122.45.

As many as 3,040 stocks traded on the NSE on Friday. Out of this, 2,173 declined and only 785 stocks advanced, while 82 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of bears.

A total of 56 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 47 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 80 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 57 touched their lower circuit bands on Friday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation lost 5.17 lakh crore and stood at ₹441.80 lakh crore at the end of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 11.98 levels, soaring 3.74%.

Sectoral watch

Except for Nifty FMCG (0.69%), all the sectors closed negative on Friday. Nifty Pharma took the lead among losers, tanking 3.33%, followed by Nifty Metal (-1.97%), Nifty IT (-1.85%), Nifty Realty (-1.78%), and Nifty Oil and Gas (-1.52%).

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index underperformed the main indices and fell 1.66% to end at the 17,668.20 level. PNB Housing Finance (-17.33%), IIFL (-10.97%), and Sonata Software (-7.18%) were the biggest laggards.

Losses in UPL (-6.22%), Aurobindo Pharma (-5.17%), and Indus Tower (-4.88%) led the Nifty Midcap 100 index to tank 1.33%, ending at 56,637.15 levels.

Sun Pharma was the biggest laggard, plunging 4.54%, followed by Dr. Reddy’s (-3.85%), Adani Enterprises (-3.67%), Cipla (-3.19%), and Tata Steel (-3.13%) on the 50-share index.

On the contrary, Trent (3.21%), Eicher Motors (2.21%), Asian Paints (1.58%), Hindustan Unilever (1.3%), and Nestle India (1.2%) were among the top gainers on Friday.