Sensex, Nifty trade lower as investors eye Trump's July 9 tariff deadline

Business Standard

2 days ago

The Indian stock market continued to trade in red as investors chose to book profit ahead of the looming deadline to impose US President Donald Trump's tariffs, effective July 9. Further, concerns around high valuations are keeping upward momentum in check. At 12:50 PM, the BSE Sensex was trading at day's low level of 83,438, down by 259 points or 0.31 per cent. The Nifty50 index followed suit and was trading below the psychological 25,500 level mark. Last checked, the index was at 25,476 level, lower by 65 points or 0.26 per cent. From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Tata Motors and Trent were among the top gainers, rising up to 3 per cent. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics (BEL), L&T, HDFC Bank, and Reliance Industries were among the top laggards. The pain was visible even in the broader markets. The Nifty MidCap 100 was quoting 59,676-mark, weaker by 0.12 per cent. Similarly, the Nifty SmallCap index was edging lower by 0.34 per cent. "There are no indications yet of a strong rebound in earnings. The GST collections data for June indicates sluggish growth. Auto sales numbers for June also indicate subdued sales. In brief, there is no room for the market to sustain the upward momentum given the high valuations," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investments.
Sector Check
Sectorally, investors took cover under metal counters with the Nifty Metal index ruling as the best-performing index on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). It was trading 1.3 per cent at the time of writing this report with Welspun Corp, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jaindal Steel, SAIL, National Aluminium Corporation (Nalco), and Hindalco rising in the range of 1 per cent to 3 per cent. READ MORE That apart, the Nifty Auto, the Nifty Pharma, and the Nifty IT were some of the other indices in the green, rising up to 0.3 per cent. Within the pack, IT stocks witnessed gains during the session after US Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, said on Tuesday that a solid majority of (Fed officials) do expect that it will become appropriate later this year to begin to reduce rates again. Meanwhile, the Nifty Realty and the Nifty Bank indices were among the worst performing industry indices, witnessing a decline of 1.37 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively. Notably, the Nifty Bank index hit a record high of 57,628.40 earlier in the day.
D-street's fear gauge, India VIX, was trading flat around 12.56, signalling muted investor sentiment. In the last 5 trading sessions, the volatility index has witnessed a sharp drop of 4.23 per cent.
HDB Financial, Sambhv Steel debut
HDB Financial Services shares debuted on Dalal Street today, yielding a 13-per cent listing gain to investors. As against the issue price of ₹740 per share, HDB Financial shares listed at ₹835 per share on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). "Given the healthy listing prevailing bullish sentiment in the market, we recommend holding the stock for the long term as HDB Financial Services is strategically positioned to benefit from India's structural credit growth, especially within the retail and SME financing segments. Those, who did not receive any allotment, may consider accumulating on any post-listing corrections, particularly during short-term volatility triggered by broader market movements," suggested Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities. That apart, Sambhv Steel Tubes debuted at ₹110 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), reflecting a premium of ₹28 or 34.15 per cent above the issue price of ₹82 per share.