Sensex falls 800 pts, goes below 80k, Nifty at 24,400: Tariff jitters among key factors behind market fall

Sensex, Nifty see profit-booking in August 8 trade. 

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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The equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty gave up previous session’s gains to settle 1 percent lower on Friday, dragged down by tariff-related concerns and persistent foreign fund outflows.

Sensex tanked 765.47 points or 0.95 percent to settle at 79,857.79. During the day, it tumbled 847.42 points or 1.05 percent to 79,775.84. The Nifty dropped 232.85 points or 0.95 percent to 24,363.30.

Bharti Airtel, Adani Enterprises, Shriram Finance, Grasim Industries and IndusInd Bank were among the major laggards in the Nifty pack, declining up to 3 percent intraday.

Key factors behind Friday’s decline:

1) Tariff concerns: The US decision to double tariffs on Indian goods has raised uncertainty over trade negotiations, weighing on investor sentiment. ANI reported that the US President Donald Trump has said there will be no trade talks with India until a tariff dispute is resolved. His administration has imposed an additional 25 percent tariffs on Indian imports, taking the total to 50 percent, citing India’s continued oil imports from Russia.

2) FII selling: Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,997.19 crore on Thursday.

"The market continues to be technically and fundamentally weak. The sustained selling by FIIs, along with high valuations, is weighing on the market. Strong domestic institutional buying is providing some support," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

3) Weak global cues: Asian markets traded lower, with South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng in the red. US markets ended mixed overnight.

4) Rupee weakness: The rupee fell 5 paise to 87.63 against the US dollar. Traders said sustained foreign fund outflows and a firm greenback kept pressure on the local unit, even as the Reserve Bank of India intervened to limit losses.

5) Volatility index rise: The India VIX, a gauge of market volatility, rose over 1 percent to 11.84, indicating a rise in investor caution.

Technical view

Sudeep Shah, Head - Technical Research and Derivatives at SBI Securities, noted "the Nifty index continues to exhibit pronounced weakness. It is now comfortably trading below its 20-day, 50-day, and 100-day EMAs, all of which are sloping downward — a clear sign of sustained bearish momentum. Adding to the negative outlook, the RSI on the daily chart has entered a super bearish zone, as per RSI range shift principles.

Further confirmation comes from the MACD indicator, which remains in bearish territory. The MACD line is quoting below both its signal line and the zero line, reinforcing the downtrend and indicating that selling pressure continues to dominate. Overall, the technical setup paints a cautious picture for the near term, with rallies likely to face resistance and selling emerging at higher levels.

Talking about crucial levels, the zone of 24200-24150 will act as important support for the index as it is the confluence of the 200-day EMA level and 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of its prior upward rally (21743-25669). If the index slips below the 24150 level, then it is likely to extend its southward journey upto the 23750 level. On the upside, the 100-day EMA zone of 24570-24600 will act as a crucial hurdle for the index.

On Thursday, the benchmarks had staged a late recovery after a Kremlin aide confirmed an upcoming meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which analysts said could influence the Russia-Ukraine conflict and ease US pressure on nations importing Russian oil, including India.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by experts on Moneycontrol are their own and not those of the website or its management. Moneycontrol advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.