Share Market Closes Lower: Sensex Drops Below 75,950, Nifty Falls 100+ Points

The Indian stock markets reversed their upward trend on Friday, closing in the red. Both the Sensex and Nifty ended their eighth consecutive trading session with losses. The BSE Sensex closed under 75,950, down nearly 200 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended at 22,929.25, reflecting a decline of over 100 points.

On the 30-share Sensex index, Nestle, ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS, and HCL Tech were among the top gainers. In contrast, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank, and NTPC were the biggest laggards.

In the broader markets, several indices suffered significant losses, with the Nifty Smallcap50 index plunging 3.81%, followed by the Nifty Smallcap100 index which fell 3.55%.

Sectoral Performance

Sectorally, the Media index was hit hardest, falling by 3.40%. The Pharma and Healthcare indices also experienced substantial losses, down 2.87% and 2.46%, respectively.

Reasons for Market Decline

The market's downfall was mainly attributed to investor concerns over the potential impact of reciprocal US tariffs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met with the US President, and both leaders agreed to finalize the first phase of a trade deal by the end of the year, with a goal of reaching $500 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, explained that the prevailing risk-averse sentiment among investors is driven by lower-than-expected corporate earnings, particularly for mid and small-cap companies. He added that factors like muted earnings growth, the depreciation of the Indian rupee, and external issues such as tariffs are expected to keep market sentiment weak in the near term. This environment could potentially lead to more foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, with elevated volatility likely until there is clarity on tariffs and corporate earnings recover.

Macro Indicators

The Indian rupee recovered slightly, closing 12 paise higher at 86.81 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday. Forex traders pointed to high crude oil prices and consistent foreign fund outflows as key factors weighing on the domestic currency.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Indian equities worth ₹2,789.91 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude rose by 0.55% to $75.43 per barrel.