Bears took control of Dalal Street on the last trading session of the week, as U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff jitters lead to serious selling pressure. The Nifty 50 index gave up key support levels to sink over 200 points, while the Sensex cracked nearly one percent, with IT and pharma stocks leading the losses.
At close, the Sensex was down 666.06 points or 0.82 percent at 80,493.62, and the Nifty was down 220.15 points or 0.88 percent at 24,670.70. About 912 shares advanced, 2828 shares declined, and 106 shares unchanged.
In a significant policy development, Trump announced that the US will impose 100 percent tariffs on branded and patented pharmaceutical imports, effective October 1, unless companies establish domestic manufacturing facilities. The measure primarily targets the proprietary products of multinational pharmaceutical companies, although uncertainty persists regarding the potential impacts on complex generics and speciality medicines from India.
"Indian pharmaceutical companies, which primarily focus on exporting generic drugs, are expected to avoid significant disruptions. However, firms like Sun Pharma, which markets branded and patented products through contract manufacturing organisations across the US and EU, may face measured impacts due to their distributed production structure," said Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities.
Shares of top IT firms fell in trade, dragging the Nifty IT index down over a percent and marking its sixth straight session of losses, after Accenture’s weak outlook hit sentiment. While reporting its fourth-quarter FY25 results, Accenture said growth next year would be weighed down by US federal spending cuts on consultants, with revenue likely to take a 1–1.5 percent hit during the year through August 2026.
To the extent, the Nifty Pharma index was among the top sectoral losers in trade, sinking over two percent, falling in tandem with the Nifty IT index, that extended losses, falling 2.5 percent in trade. All other sectoral indices also traded with losses, while the broader markets sank, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 tanking over two percent each.
On the technical front, Nifty’s broader structure has clearly tilted into a cautious stance, with the index closing below its psychological level of 25,000 for the first time in weeks. Five consecutive sessions of lower closes, combined with a visible pattern of lower highs on the daily chart and sustained trade beneath key moving averages, underline a weakening trend.
"As long as the index remains under the 25,050–25,000 resistance band, sellers are expected to retain the upper hand. "A decisive break-down below 24,800 could unlock further downside toward 24,620, keeping the near-term outlook sideways to bearish," said Dhupesh Dhameja, Derivatives Research Analyst, SAMCO Securities.
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