Sensex tanks 600 pts, Nifty slips below 24,600; HDFC Bank, HCL Tech lead losers

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty resumed trade on a weak note Thursday, as fresh US tariffs dampened sentiment. Stock exchanges were shut on Wednesday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Export-focused stocks came under pressure after the US administration imposed an additional 25 per cent duty, effective August 27.

At 9:21 am, the BSE Sensex was down 485.98 points, or 0.60 per cent, at 80,300.56, after slipping as much as 612 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty50 fell 136.15 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 24,575.90, having hit a day’s low of 24,529.

Among Sensex stocks, HDFC Bank led losers, falling 1.44 per cent to Rs 959.  HCL Technologies declined 1.18 per cent. Other losers included ICICI Bank (down 1.12 per cent), Power Grid (down 1.09 per cent) and Infosys (down 1 per cent)

Rail Vikas Nigam shares rose 1.13 per cent to Rs 316.35 in Thursday’s trade after Texmaco Rail & Engineering announced a joint venture with the company aimed at boosting India’s railway modernisation and enhancing export competitiveness.

Tata Steel shares dipped 0.10 per cent to Rs 154.85 in early trade even as the steelmaker invested about Rs 3,100 crore in its Singapore-based arm, T Steel Holdings, through a subscription of fresh equity shares.

In global markets, the S&P 500 gained 0.24 per cent to 6,481.40, while the Nasdaq advanced 0.2 per cent to 21,590.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also edged higher, rising 0.3 per cent to 45,565.23.

Asian equities were mixed on Thursday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 advancing while China’s Beijing Stock Exchange 50 Index edged lower.

On Tuesday, the BSE Sensex slipped 849.37 points, or 1.04 per cent, to close at 80,786.54, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 255.70 points, or 1.02 per cent, to end at 24,712.05.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said the 50 per cent tariff imposed on India which has already come into effect  will weigh on market sentiments in the near-term.

“But the market is unlikely to panic since the market will view this high tariffs as a short-term aberration which will be resolved soon. The US treasury secretary Scott Bessant’s comment that  at the end of the day India and US will come together indicates the likely outcome. The market will discount this outcome without panicking,” Vijayakumar said.

“The real challenge before the market is the high valuations and the tepid earnings growth. The strong pillar of support to the market is the aggressive buying by DIIs flush with funds. Any selling by FIIs will be easily neutralised by the aggressive buying by DIIs,” Vijayakumar added.