Markets Open Sharply Lower; Sensex Falls 590 Points, Nifty Below 24,700

Sensex Falls 537 Points, Nifty Slips Below 24,700 as Trump’s Tariff Hits Sentiment.

Benchmark indices opened sharply lower on Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, alongside a yet-unspecified penalty tied to India’s energy and defence ties with Russia. The development dampened market sentiment and triggered a broad-based sell-off.

At 9:26 am, the BSE Sensex had shed 536.92 points to trade at 80,944.94, while the NSE Nifty50 dropped 156.35 points to 24,698.70.

Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, called the announcement “very bad news for Indian exports” and warned of a near-term hit to GDP growth and investor confidence. However, he noted that “ongoing trade negotiations could eventually reduce the 25% tariff.”

Sectoral and Stock-Specific Impact
Most heavyweight stocks opened in the red, with Reliance Industries down 1.47%, Bharti Airtel slipping 1.46%, ICICI Bank falling 0.84%, Bajaj Finance down 0.86%, and HCL Technologies declining 0.81%.

On the upside, early gainers included Eternal (+1.73%), Power Grid (+0.95%), Tata Steel (+0.25%), Hindustan Unilever (+0.08%) and ITC (+0.06%).

Volatility spiked, with the India VIX rising 7.29%, reflecting investor uncertainty.

Broader Market Trends
The Nifty Midcap100 dropped 0.90%, and the Nifty Smallcap100 was down 0.73%, signalling weakness across the board.

Among sectoral indices, the worst hit was Nifty Oil & Gas (-1.58%), followed by Nifty Auto (-1.25%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-1.05%), and Nifty IT (-0.78%). Other sectors including Realty, Pharma, Metals, and PSU Banks also opened lower.

Vijayakumar expects the tariff issue to be resolved in upcoming negotiations, calling the steep 25% rate part of a “Trumpian strategy” to pressure India before settling for a lower rate around 20%.

“Nifty is unlikely to breach the support level of 24,500,” he added, advising investors to use dips to accumulate quality stocks in domestic consumption, private banking, telecom, capital goods, cement, and select autos that have posted strong Q1 results.