SENSEX falls 240 points, NIFTY50 slips below 24,500 as tariff dents sentiment; Adani Ports, Tata Motors top laggards

The equity benchmark indices slipped in the opening session on Thursday, August 7, as investors turned cautious following the additional 25% tariff imposed by the US on India.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped an additional 25% tariff on goods coming from India as a penalty for New Delhi's continued purchase of Russian oil. The move is likely to hit sectors such as textiles, marine and leather exports.

India has hit out at the decision, calling the move “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”. The initial duty becomes effective on August 7, while the additional levy will come into effect after 21 days, or August 27.

Among sectors, Nifty Auto (-0.59%), Nifty Oil and Gas (-0.54%) and Nifty Metal (-0.51%) were the biggest losers. On the flip side, Nifty Media (0.89%), Nifty Pharma (0.48%) and Nifty FMCG (0.48%) gained the most.

The broader market also slipped into the red, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 tumbling 0.21% and 0.30%, respectively.

According to exchange data, on Wednesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹4,999.10 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹6,794.28 crore on a net basis.

Globally, stocks in Asia traded higher, tracking the US markets as investors looked past President Donald Trump’s threat of a 100% tariff on chip exports.

Japan's Nikkei gained 0.72%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was seen up 0.17%, South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.58%, and the Shanghai Composite was also trading 0.12% up on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks settled higher on Wednesday, led by a rally in the Nasdaq, as Apple shares climbed after news of its plans to announce a domestic manufacturing pledge.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 81.38 points, or 0.18%, to end at 44,193.12; the S&P 500 rose 45.87 points, or 0.73%, to 6,345.06; and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 252.87 points, or 1.21%, to end at 21,169.42.

As many as 2,426 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which 1,934 were trading down, 418 advanced, and 74 shares remained unchanged.

This indicates that the market's breadth was in favour of the negatives.

Meanwhile, 25 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 35 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Further, 24 stocks hit their upper circuits, while 29 hit their lower circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, slumped 1.33% to 11.80 levels.

Adani Ports took the lead among losers, falling 1.83%. Tata Motors (-1.38%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (-1.37%), Adani Enterprises (-1.1%) and Bajaj Auto (-0.98%) were the other laggards.

On the contrary, Hero MotoCorp (1.27%), Trent (0.72%), Cipla (0.62%), Wipro (0.43%) and Tech Mahindra (0.36%) were the highest-gaining stocks on the 50-share index.