After a decline in both Sensex and Nifty in initial Tuesday morning trade, the equity benchmark indices traded in the red at closing bell, led by losses in Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma stocks.
Investor sentiment bordered on caution as US and India remained engaged in word wars over US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Indian goods that exceed 25 per cent, along with additional ‘penalty’ for buying Russian crude. While India countered the US’s threats with an open letter, India’s stock indices felt the blow, dragged down by selling in oil and gas shares along with persistent foreign fund outflows.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent to 80,710.25, and the Nifty was down 73.20 points or 0.30 percent at 24,649.55. About 1708 shares advanced, 2184 shares declined, and 143 shares unchanged.
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Among sectors, auto index was up 0.4 percent, while bank, IT, oil and gas, FMCG, and pharma were down 0.5 percent each.
BSE Midcap and smallcap indices ended with marginal losses.
Infosys, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank were among top losers on the NSE, while gainers were Titan Company, Maruti Suzuki, SBI Life, Trent, IndusInd Bank.
Earlier in the day, BEL, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, and Tata Steel were the major laggards.
Maruti, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, Titan, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.
Analysts said the latest tweets from trump on “substantially raising US tariffs on India” for buying Russian oil would further strain India-US relations and impact India’s exports.
"India's GDP growth and corporate earnings in FY26 will also be impacted. The market, still trading at elevated valuations, has not discounted such an eventuality. It remains to be seen how things evolve. India's response, with facts, that 'Targeting India is unjustified and unreasonable' sends a message that India will not be making undue concessions and compromises," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.
These unforeseen geopolitical tensions are uncharted territory for the stock markets and investors are waiting and watching to see further developments and negative reactions.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Japan's Nikkei 225 index were quoted in positive territory, as were the US markets that ended higher on Monday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.33 per cent to USD 68.53 a barrel.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,566.51 crore while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) outnumbered the FIIs by purchasing equities worth ₹4,386.29 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
On Monday, the 30-share Sensex gained 418.81 points to settle at 81,018.72, and the NSE Nifty jumped by 157.40 points to close at 24,722.75.
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