The Indian equity market indices opened lower on Friday amid lingering uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s trade policies, as he continues to threaten higher tariffs across various sectors and countries.
At 9:20 am, the Sensex was down 224 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 82,965, while the Nifty shed 65 points, or 0.26 per cent, to trade at 25,289.
Marginal buying was seen in midcap and smallcap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was up 60 points, or 0.10 per cent, at 59,220, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 11 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 18,967.
According to analysts, given the current environment marked by uncertainty and heightened volatility, traders are advised to adopt a cautious “wait and watch” approach, especially with leveraged positions. Booking partial profits during rallies and using tight trailing stop-losses is recommended.
In the Sensex pack, HUL, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, NTPC, Power Grid, Tata Steel, SBI, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, and ITC were among the major gainers. TCS, Infosys, M&M, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, and Trent were the prominent losers.
On the sectoral front, PSU banks, financial services, pharma, FMCG, and metal stocks were trading in the green, while auto, IT, realty, and media sectors were in the red.
In Asia, stock markets traded mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI were trading flat, while China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained over one per cent.
Overnight in the US, Wall Street’s major indices, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, closed at record highs. The Dow Jones climbed 0.43 per cent and the S&P 500 rose 0.27 per cent.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 221 crore on July 10, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 591 crore on the same day.
President Trump has announced 35 per cent tariffs on Canada and warned of higher levies if Ottawa retaliates. These tariffs will come into effect on August 1. Recently, Trump also threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian imports unless Brazil halts legal proceedings against former President Bolsonaro.
—IANS