Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 opened lower on Friday after the US President Donald Trump said there would be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved. The comments came after the US administration imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports to the US. A US team was scheduled to visit India on August 25 for the next round of negotiations.
At 9:23 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 80,463.25, down 160.01 points or 0.20 per cent. The 30-share index had earlier slipped 242 points. The NSE Nifty50 was down 35.40 points or 0.14 per cent at 24,560.75, after touching an intraday low of 24,541.30.
Among Sensex stocks, Bharti Airtel led losers, falling 2.67 per cent to Rs 1,873. Eternal declined 0.57 per cent. Other laggards included Bharat Electronics (down 0.49 per cent), Infosys (down 0.48 per cent), HDFC Bank (down 0.47 per cent) and Axis Bank (down 0.36 per cent).
Bharti Airtel shares fell 2.67 per cent to Rs 1,873 apiece in Friday’s trade after reports indicated that promoter entity Indian Continent Investment is set to offload a 0.8 per cent stake in the telecom major through a block deal, suggests the term sheet. The transaction size is pegged at around Rs 9,310 crore, with the floor price likely fixed at Rs 1,862 per share.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said the market continues to be technically and fundamentally weak. Continuous lower lows on the Nifty is technically a weak sign.
“From the fundamental perspective, there are no indications yet of a sharp uptick in earnings for FY26. These weak indicators, along with the relatively high valuations in India, are triggering sustained selling by the FIIs. FIIs have sold on all trading days of August, so far, taking their total cash market selling in August, till now, to Rs 15950 crore. Yesterday’s sharp 250 point recovery from the low level in Nifty was caused by short covering triggered by the strong buying by DIIs of Rs 10864 crores,” Vijayakumar said.
“In the present context of negative sentiments in the market caused by the tariff skirmishes between India and the US, FIIs are likely to continue selling in the cash market. The only saving grace is the sustained DII buying which remains strong. The strong DII buying assisted by sustained flows into mutual funds can prevent a crash in the market. Investors may wait and watch for the developments on the tariff front to unfold,” Vijayakumar added.
Domestic equity benchmarks rebounded on Thursday, snapping a two-day losing streak. The BSE Sensex staged a sharp rebound, closing 79.27 points, or 0.10 per cent, higher at 80,623.26 after recovering 811 points from the day’s low of 79,811.29. The NSE Nifty50 also gained 21.95 points, or 0.09 per cent, to end at 24,596.15.
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