Sensex, Nifty trade under pressure as US market crash rattles investors

Indian equity benchmarks made a negative start on Tuesday, tracking sell-off on Wall Street overnight as well as weakness in Asian counterparts, amid increasing worries that the U.S. is headed for a recession and concerns over the health of the world economy following the likely impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade policies. Trump declined to rule out the possibility of a recession following his tariff actions on Mexico, Canada and China. He warned of imposing sweeping banking sanctions and tariffs on Russia until there is a ceasefire and peace agreement.

Sensex and Nifty are trading under pressure with cut of around half a percent each in early deals. Traders were concerned as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department detected Rs 1.95 lakh crore tax evasion in over 25,000 cases so far in the current financial year. According to the finance ministry, of the Rs 1.95 lakh crore evasion detected, taxpayers have voluntarily submitted Rs 21,500 crore. Besides, Government sought Parliament nod to spend Rs 51,463 crore extra in current fiscal ending march, with major part going towards pension and subsidy fertiliser.

On the sectoral front, tourism industry stocks are in focus as Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said foreign tourist arrivals in India soared by a whopping 124 per cent in 2023 at 1.92 crore. In stock specific development, Thermax traded higher as its subsidiary, Thermax Chemical Solutions, has entered into a Share Subscription and Shareholders Agreement with Brazil-based Oswaldo Cruz Quimica Industria E Comercio (OCQ) to establish a new company in India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73761.58, down by 353.59 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 73663.60 and 73854.19. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.56%, while Small cap index was down by 1.55%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.60%, Realty up by 0.58% and Energy up by 0.19%, while IT down by 1.97%, TECK down by 1.38%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.99%, Industrials down by 0.98% and Auto down by 0.88% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 2.01%, ICICI Bank up by 1.69%, Nestle up by 0.58%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.56% and ITC up by 0.26%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 15.00%, Infosys down by 3.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.87%, Zomato down by 2.79% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.60% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid the threat of imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the US, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will hold discussions with export promotion councils on trade issues on March 13, 2025. In the meeting, exporters are expected to raise issues pertaining to the proposed bilateral trade agreement between India and the US.

The meeting assumes significance as the minister has recently returned from Washington after holding trade talks with his US counterparts. The exporting community is concerned about the threat of the US to impose reciprocal tariffs as it could impact India's exports to America, which is its largest trading partner. However, if the US would give duty concessions under the proposed trade agreement to India, sectors like textiles, handicrafts, leather, and gems and jewellery would get a boost.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said that India should open its agri sector also. India has by and large protected the agri sector in all the free trade agreements as the segment involves the protection of the interest of millions of domestic farmers, who are engaged in sustenance farming. Recently, US President Donald Trump said India has agreed to cut its tariffs ‘way down’ as he reiterated his claim that the country charges America massive tariffs that make it difficult to sell products there.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22362.65, down by 97.65 points or 0.43% after trading in a range of 22314.70 and 22395.95. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were BPCL up by 1.99%, Sun Pharma up by 1.93%, ICICI Bank up by 1.71%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.24% and Britannia Industries up by 0.74%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 15.00%, Infosys down by 3.56%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.92%, Wipro down by 2.39% and Tech Mahindra down by 1.71% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 594.4 points or 1.61% to 36,433.87, Taiwan Weighted lost 406.25 points or 1.81% to 22,052.90, Hang Seng declined 229.79 points or 0.97% to 23,553.70, Straits Times fell 70.15 points or 1.8% to 3,828.92, Jakarta Composite weakened 57.7 points or 0.87% to 6,540.51, KOSPI dropped 32.13 points or 1.25% to 2,538.26 and Shanghai Composite was down by 15.9 points or 0.47% to 3,350.26.