New Delhi, August 28 (HS): The shockwaves of America’s fresh 25% additional tariffs on Indian exports rattled Dalal Street for the second consecutive session, sending Sensex and Nifty closing sharply lower in Thursday’s trade.
Markets opened with a marginal weakness but heavy sell-off pressure quickly dragged benchmarks into the red. Though early bargain hunting helped indices recover part of the losses mid-morning, renewed selling from noon onwards erased gains, leaving equities bleeding across sectors by market close.
The BSE Sensex dropped 705.97 points (0.87%) to close at 80,080.57, while the NSE Nifty slumped 211.15 points (0.85%) to settle at 24,500.90.
Bloodbath
Banking, IT, FMCG, telecom and realty stocks bore the brunt of relentless selling. Auto, capital goods, pharma, oil & gas, metals, PSU and tech counters also ended deep in the red. Consumer durables emerged as the lone bright spot, witnessing selective buying.
The broader market mirrored this trend, with the BSE Midcap index losing 1.09% and the Smallcap index slipping 0.96%.
Investor Wealth Erosion
On Dalal Street, the rout wiped out nearly ₹4.25 lakh crore in investor wealth. The BSE-listed companies’ total market capitalization plunged to ₹445.20 lakh crore (provisional) from Tuesday’s ₹449.45 lakh crore.
Market Action
BSE: Out of 4,258 actively traded stocks, 1,459 advanced, 2,649 declined, and 150 remained unchanged.
NSE: Of 2,736 active shares, 837 gained while 1,899 closed lower.
Within Sensex’s 30 constituents, only 7 closed higher while 23 slipped. Similarly, in Nifty, just 12 stocks ended positive against 38 losers.
Intraday Drama
Sensex: Opened weak at 80,754.66, slipped swiftly to 80,093.52, then rallied nearly 700 points to 80,775.71 by 11 AM. However, bears regained control, dragging it to 80,013.02 before a minor recovery.
Nifty: Started at 24,695.80, tanked below 24,507.20, then clawed back to 24,702.65. Renewed selling pulled it down to 24,481.60 before some last-hour recovery.
Top Gainers
Titan Company (+1.22%)
Larsen & Toubro (+0.53%)
Coal India (+0.50%)
Hero MotoCorp (+0.36%)
Asian Paints (+0.31%)
Top Losers
Shriram Finance (–3.88%)
HCL Technologies (–2.88%)
TCS (–2.01%)
Power Grid Corporation (–1.95%)
Infosys (–1.93%)
Bottomline: Rising U.S. protectionism has clearly unnerved Dalal Street, and with investor sentiment fragile, any further escalation could trigger deeper cracks in Indian equities. Traders may brace for heightened volatility in the days ahead.
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
