Sensex Declines 650 pts, Nifty Slips Below 24,400

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined on Friday, reversing the previous session’s gains due to ongoing tariff concerns and persistent foreign fund outflows. On Thursday, markets had recovered late after a Kremlin aide confirmed an upcoming meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which analysts believed could ease US pressure on countries like India that import Russian oil.

By 2:30 p.m., the Sensex was down 611.97 points or 0.76% at 80,011.29, while the Nifty fell 187.90 points or 0.76% to 24,408.25.

Key factors behind the decline included:

1. Tariff Concerns: The US decision to impose an additional 25% duty on Indian imports, raising total tariffs to 50%, has heightened trade tensions. President Trump ruled out trade talks with India until the dispute is resolved.
2. FII Selling: Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth ₹4,997.19 crore on Thursday.
3. Weak Global Cues: Asian markets, including Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, traded lower.
4. Rupee Weakness: The rupee slipped 5 paise to 87.63 against the dollar, pressured by FII outflows and a strong greenback.
5. Increased Volatility: India VIX rose over 1% to 11.84, indicating growing investor caution.

Technically, analysts noted broad-based buying from lows, with Nifty showing potential to move toward 24,850–25,000 if support at 24,548 holds.