Market Wrap, February 3: Trump's tariff makes indices jittery; SENSEX, NIFTY50 tumble nearly 0.50%

The benchmark equity indices on remained under pressure on Monday, February 3 following global cues. The market investors also remained cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy announcement this week.

Rupee hitting record low amid US trade tariffs also dampened the market mood. The domestic currency declined to 87.28/$ before closing at 87.19, down nearly 0.7%, its biggest single day percentage loss since January 13.

However, the equity indices saw some rebound after the manufacturing sector activity data showed that there was significant growth in January. According to the survey report, the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surged to 57.7 in January, up from 56.4 in December. January data also showed a pick-up in buying level growth and record job creation. Cost pressures retreated to their weakest in 11 months, but selling prices rose solidly amid buoyant demand.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 77,186.74, down 319.22 points, or 0.41%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 23,361.05, down 121.10 points, or 0.52%.

The global markets traded in the red as the US officially launched a tariff war on nations. The US markets closed lower on Friday after touching record-high levels on Dow Jones and Nasdaq.

Taking the cues from the US, the Asian markets traded in the deep red across the board on Monday morning as Japan’s Nikkei fell 1000 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 340 points, and Korea’s Kospi index fell 71 points or 2.8% lower.

China’s Manufacturing PMI stood at 50.1 as against the market expectations of 50.5, indicating slow growth in the already ailing manufacturing sector of the world’s second-largest economy.

As many as 2,928 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, 2,063 declined and only 787 stocks gained while 78 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 34 stocks hit their 52-week highs while 79 stocks touched their one-year lows.

Besides, 62 stocks hit their upper circuit limits and 191 touched their lower circuit bands.

As many as 35 stocks on the NIFTY50 index slipped in the red, while the remaining 16 traded in green.

The top five gainers on the index were Bajaj Finance, Shriram Finance, Mahindra and Mahindra, Wipro and Bajaj Finserv, surging as much as 5.12% on NSE.

The top five losers were Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Tata Consumers, Hero MotorCorp, Coal India and Bharat Electronics, falling as much as 4.69% on the 50-share index.

The BSE MidCap index ended at 42,677.47, down 382.23 points, or 0.89%, while the BSE SmallCap index settled 887.50 points, or 1.77% lower at 49,756.28 levels.

With today's fall, the small-cap index is now over 16% down from its 52-week high of 57,827.69, touched on December 12, 2024.

Except for five sectors, all the other sectoral indices ended in the red, with the capital goods (-4.29%) and industrials (-3.79%) stocks taking the biggest hit.

Other sectoral losers were BSE Power, Utilities and Oil and Gas falling 3.30%, 2.71% and 2.52% respectively.