SENSEX falls 307 points, NIFTY50 at 24,514 level as IT stocks decline; Bharti Airtel, Eternal top losers

The Indian stock market opened lower on Friday, August 8, amid rising trade tariff tensions between India and the US. IT stocks also dragged the indices in the opening session.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday ruled out rapidly advancing trade negotiations with India after Washington slapped steep tariffs on Indian goods, saying discussions would not move forward until the issue is resolved.

Asked whether he expected “increased trade negotiations” after announcing 50% tariffs on India, Trump replied, “No, not until we get it resolved.”

The broader market also remained under pressure in the early session, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 losing 0.21% and 0.08%, respectively.

Among sectors, Nifty IT (-0.48%) fell the most, followed by Nifty Pharma (-0.36%) and Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.30%). Meanwhile, Nifty Media (0.72%), Nifty Oil and Gas (0.60%) and Nifty Realty (0.34%) were among the top gainers.

According to exchange data, on Thursday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹ 4,997.19 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹ 10,864.04 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, most of the Asian indices were trading mixed on Friday, with Japan’s index hitting a record high on an earnings boost. Japan's Nikkei zoomed 2.19% to trade at the 41,994 level.

South Korea's KOSPI slipped 0.62%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 0.95%, while the Shanghai Composite was trading marginally up by 0.07%.

On Wall Street, the Dow and S&P 500 eased on Thursday, while the Nasdaq eked out a record closing high as investors remained cautious amid trade tensions and Trump looking for a new Federal Reserve chairperson.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 224.48 points, or 0.51%, to 43,968.64; the S&P 500 fell 5.06 points, or 0.08%, to 6,340.00; while the Nasdaq Composite rose 73.27 points, or 0.35%, to close at 21,242.70.

As many as 2,455 stocks traded on the NSE during the early session, among which only 1,348 were trading in the green, 1,027 were trading in the red, and 80 shares remained unchanged.

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

Meanwhile, 30 stocks hit their one-year highs in the early trade, while 20 stocks touched their 52-week lows.

Almost 31 stocks hit their lower circuits, and 21 stocks hit their upper circuits.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, was trading 0.79% higher at 11.78 levels.

Bharti Airtel took the lead among laggards, falling 2.69% following a block deal. Eternal (-0.93%), Bharat Electronics (-0.92%), Infosys (-0.78%) and Axis Bank (-0.67%) were the other top losers.

On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp (0.99%), Bajaj Finance (0.84%), NTPC (0.80%), Titan (0.78%) and Tata Motors (0.52%) were the biggest-gaining stocks on the 50-share index.