Sensex falls over 359 pts; IT shares under pressure

Business Standard

2 days ago

The headline equity indices continued to trade with modest cuts in the mid-morning trade, as investor sentiment weakened following fresh tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump over Indias continued imports of Russian oil. The Nifty traded below the 24,650 mark. IT shares declined after advancing in the past trading sessions.
At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 358.51 points or 0.44% to 80,660.21. The Nifty 50 index declined 103.25 points or 0.41% to 24,620.25.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.12% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.16%.
The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,716 shares rose and 1,996 shares fell. A total of 177 shares were unchanged.
Trump Tariffs:
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced his plans to significantly raise tariffs on Indian exports to the country.
"India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, but they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big profits, Trump reportedly wrote on a social media platform.
India said it was being 'targeted by the U.S. and the European Union over its imports of Russian oil after U.S. President Donald Trump, in an overnight social media post, threatened New Delhi with much steeper tariffs.
India began importing oil from Russia only after traditional supplies were diverted to Europe following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, the Indian foreign ministry reportedly said in a statement.
The ministry stated that it was revealing that the very nations criticizing Indianamely the EU and the U.S.were themselves engaging in trade with Russia.
The EUs bilateral trade with Russia stood at 67.5 billion euros ($78.1 billion) in 2024, while its services trade in 2023 was at 17.2 billion euros, according to European Commission data. Citing that data, India said the blocs trade was significantly more than Indias total trade with Russia.
Economy
The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index edged up to 60.5 in July 2025 from 60.4 in June, indicating a sustained expansion in the countrys services sector.
Indian service providers reported a notable improvement in international demand, securing new business from Asia, Canada, Europe, the UAE, and the US. The pace of expansion in external sales was sharp, marking the second-fastest growth in a year, trailing only Mays performance.
The HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index was up fractionally from 61.0 in June to 61.1 in July, indicating a sharp rate of expansion that was the quickest since April 2024.
IPO Update:
The initial public offer (IPO) of Highway Infrastructure received bids for 7,47,52,236 shares as against 1,60,43,046 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 11:15 IST on Tuesday (5 August 2025). The issue was subscribed 4.66 times.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty IT index shed 0.66% to 34,971.00. The index rose 1.60% in the past trading sessions.
Mphasis (down 1.54%), Infosys (down 1.47%), Coforge (down 1.35%), Tata Consultancy Services (down 0.88%), Persistent Systems (down 0.57%), LTIMindtree (down 0.24%), Wipro (down 0.22%), Oracle Financial Services Software (down 0.16%) fell.
On the other hand, HCL Technologies (up 0.26%) and Tech Mahindra (up 0.13%)edged higher.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Aurobindo Pharma fell 1.65% after the companys consolidated net profit tumbled 10.3% to Rs 824.75 crore despite of 4.5% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 7791.77 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.
Azad Engineering jumped 4.63% after the companys consolidated net profit surged 73.59% to Rs 29.72 crore on 39.30% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 137.09 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.
Global Markets:
Asian shares advanced on Tuesday, marking a second straight day of gains, as investor optimism grew that the Federal Reserve will take steps to support the worlds largest economy.
A few Bank of Japan board members said the central bank would consider resuming interest rate increases if trade friction de-escalates, minutes of its June policy meeting reportedly showed on Tuesday.
At the June 16-17 meeting, the BOJ kept interest rates steady at 0.5% and decided to decelerate the pace of its balance sheet drawdown next year, signaling its preference to move cautiously in removing remnants of its massive stimulus.
Meanwhile, South Koreas consumer prices rose 2.1% in July from a year earlier, slightly slower than the rise of 2.2% in June, government data showed on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, all three major averages soared into the green on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average recouping its losses from Fridays session.
The blue-chip index climbed 585.06 points, or 1.34%, to finish the day at 44,173.64. Additionally, the broad market S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rocketed higher by 1.47% and 1.95%, ending at 6,329.94 and 21,053.58, respectively.