The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty are set to open in red on Friday, tracking mixed cues from global peers, amid persistent concerns about steep U.S. tariff hikes on India. At 8:20, GIFT Nifty futures were down 52 points at 24,643, signaling a weak opening for the benchmark indices.

On Thursday, the Indian equity market ended higher in choppy trade, shrugging off early jitters sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of fresh tariffs on Indian imports.

The Sensex ended 79.27 points, or 0.1%, higher at 80,623, while the NSE Nifty closed up by 21.95 points, or 0.09%, at 24,596.15. Broader indices also settled in the positive territory. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed 0.33% higher, while the Nifty SmallCap rose 0.17%.

Asian shares traded on a mixed note on Friday, tracking muted cues from Wall Street, while Japanese market rallied over 2% on U.S. tariff relief. The market sentiment got a boost amid hope that Federal Reserve will go for rate cut in near term, while healthy corporate earnings also added to the optimism.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 2.1% and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite rose 0.8%, while Taiwan’s Weighted Index and China’s Shanghai Composite were trading marginally higher.  

On the other hand, key indices in Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore were trading in negative terrain, falling up to 0.4%, while Australia’s ASX 200 ended a tad lower.

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Thursday amid renewed concerns over trade tensions, as President Donald Trump's higher tariffs on imports from several countries took effect on Thursday, pushing the average U.S. import duty to its highest level in a century.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.51%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.08%. In contrast, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.35% after Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of around 100% on imported chips and semiconductors.

Big players such as State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Afcons Infrastructure, Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Company, DOMS Industries, Equitas Small Finance Bank, ESAF Small Finance Bank, Gandhar Oil Refinery, Grasim Industries, Lemon Tree Hotels, Manappuram Finance, Info Edge (India), Siemens, TVS Supply Chain Solutions, Voltas, and Wockhardt will announce their June quarter results today.

The BSE Sensex declined 174 points, or 0.22%, to 80,449 in opening trade, while the NSE Nifty slipped 27 points, or 0.12%, to 24,570 level.

In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap100 and Nifty Smallcap100 indices were down up to 0.2% in early trade.

The BSE Sensex witnessed mixed trend, with 13 stocks were trading in red, while remaining 17 were in green zone.

While Titan Company, Trent, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, and Tata Motors were leading the gains, Bharti Airtel, Eternal, Infosys, Bharat Electronics, and Axis Bank were among the top losers.

"The market continues to be technically and fundamentally weak. Continuous lower lows on the Nifty is technically a weak sign," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.

From the fundamental perspective,  there are no indications yet of a sharp uptick in earnings for FY26. These weak indicators, along with the relatively high valuations in India, are triggering sustained selling by the FIIs.

FIIs have sold on all trading days of August, so far, taking their total cash market selling in August, till now, to Rs 15950 crores. Yesterday’s sharp 250 point recovery from the low level in Nifty was caused by short covering triggered by the strong buying by DIIs of Rs 10864 crores.

In the present context of negative sentiments in the market caused by the tariff skirmishes between India and the US, FIIs are likely to continue selling in the cash market. The only saving grace is the sustained DII buying which remains strong. The strong DII buying assisted by sustained flows into mutual funds can prevent a crash in the market. Investors may wait and watch for the developments on the tariff front to unfold, he said.

Considering the current market environment marked by uncertainty and elevated volatility, traders are advised to maintain a cautious “wait and watch” stance, particularly when dealing with leveraged positions, said Amruta Shinde, Technical & Derivative Analyst at Choice Equity Broking Private Limited.

“Booking partial profits on rallies and using tight trailing stop-losses are recommended strategies to manage risk. Fresh long positions should be considered only if the Nifty sustains above the 24750 level. Overall, the market sentiment remains cautiously bullish, with traders advised to keep a close eye on key breakout levels and global developments."

Shares of Bharti Airtel declined nearly 3% in early trade on Friday amid reports that its promoter entity, Indian Continent Investment, is expected to offload a 0.8% equity stake in the company through a block deal today.

Reacting to the news, Bharti Airtel shares dropped as much as 2.9% to ₹1,868.70 on the BSE, while its market capitalisation slipped to ₹10.68 lakh crore. The counter witnessed strong volume, with 1.21 crore shares changing hands compared to the two-week average of 3.24 lakh shares.

Extending opening losses, the BSE benchmark Sensex declined as much as 515 points to hit a low of 80,108, and the NSE Nifty slumped 159 points, or 0.65%, to touch a low of 24,437.

Shares of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) slipped nearly 2% in early trade on Friday even after the country’s oldest exchange reported robust earnings in June quarter of the current fiscal. The weakness in BSE shares was largely due to a sell-off in benchmark indices, with the Sensex falling as much as 538 points to 80,085, while the NSE Nifty slumped 164 points to 24,431 level in the first two hours of trade so far.

Snapping two sessions gaining streak, BSE shares declined as much as 2.45% to ₹2,382.30 on the NSE, while its market capitalisation slipped to ₹97,676 crore. The counter witnessed strong volume as nearly 40 lakh shares changed hand over the counter in less than two hours of trading.

Shares of VIP Industries slipped nearly 4% after the company reported weak Q1 results. 

The company, which offers products under the categories of luggage, backpacks, and homebags, reported net sales of ₹561.12 crore in June 2025, marking a decline of 11.98% from ₹637.51 crore in June 2024. Its quarterly net loss widened significantly to ₹23.33 crore, compared to a loss of ₹4.45 crore in the same period last year, reflecting a decline of 624.27%.

EBITDA also fell by 61.63% to ₹18.68 crore in June 2025 from ₹48.69 crore in June 2024.

Shares of Medi Assist Healthcare Services climbed over 1% today after the company reported a strong set of numbers for the June quarter of financial year 2026 (Q1FY26). The third-party administration services to insurance firms posted a 19.1% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit at ₹22.4 crore for the first quarter that ended June 30, 2025. Revenue from operations jumped 13.6% to ₹190.5 crore against ₹167.7 crore in Q1FY25.

Shares of NSDL continued their gaining streak for the third straight session, rising as much as 18.5% to ₹1,331.05 on the BSE. The stock is up 66% against its IPO price of ₹800 per share.

NSDL shares debuted at ₹880 on the BSE, a premium of 10% over the initial public offering (IPO) price of ₹800 apiece, with a market cap of ₹17,600 crore. Post listing, the stock gained as much as 19% to hit an intraday high of ₹943.85 per share, in an otherwise muted broader market.

HDFC Life and Northern Arc Capital have come together to forge a strategic partnership to offer financial security to customers.

The synergy between Northern Arc's grassroots penetration and HDFC Life's strong and diversified product suite will provide comprehensive financial protection to underserved segments nationwide, empowering individuals and contributing to India's financial resilience, HDFC Life said in a release.

Speaking on the partnership, Vibha Padalkar – MD & CEO, HDFC Life commented, “There is a need for financial security across a large section of our population. This partnership with Northern Arc Capital further adds value to our multi channel distribution strategy and enhances our geographical footprint by leveraging their extensive network and strong connections with over 200 plus Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs)."

"This collaboration enables us to provide life insurance solutions across retail and credit life products throughout India. Through our simple and customisable products, tech-led platforms and superior levels of service, we aim to reach more individuals and groups looking to secure themselves and their loved ones, financially. We remain committed to the collective goal of ‘Insurance for All by 2047’. ”

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s largest life insurer, reported a 22.72% year-on-year (YoY) increase in new business premium for the month of July 2025 highest in CY25, as per data released by the Life Insurance Council.

In July 2025, LIC collected ₹22,617.64 crore in new business premiums, up from ₹18,430.63 crore in July 2024. The overall life insurance industry garnered ₹38,958.05 crore, marking an 22.42% rise over ₹31,822.69 crore collected in the same month last year. Private life insurers contributed ₹16,340.41 crore, registering a 22.02% growth over the previous year’s ₹13,392.07 crore.

In the Individual Premium category, LIC posted an increase of 10.33%, collecting ₹6,045.47 crore in July 2025 compared to ₹5,479.57 crore in July 2024. However, the Group Premium segment recorded a robust 27.96% growth, rising to ₹16,572.17 crore from ₹12,951.06 crore a year earlier.

Post acquiring a majority stake in Rediff back in 2024, Infibeam Avenues today announces that its board of directors have approved entering into a Business Transfer Agreement (BTA) with Rediff.com India Ltd to transfer its Ecommerce Platform Infrastructure Services business independently valued at ₹800.39 crore.

The strategic business transfer is expected to deliver focused business segmentation enabling both Rediff and Infibeam Avenues to operate with enhanced focus and ownership, it said in a release.

Shares of Kalyan Jewellers tumbled 11% to ₹525.95 on the BSE today, a day after the company released its June quarter results. The company recorded a 48.7% YoY surge in profit at ₹264.1 crore, while revenue grew 31.5% to ₹7,268.5 crore in Q1 FY26.

Extending opening losses, the BSE Sensex closed 765.47, or 0.95%, lower at 79,857.79, while the NSE Nifty slumped 232.85 points, or 0.95%, to 24,363.30.

The broader market was worst hit, with the Nifty Midcap100 and the Nifty Smallcap100 indices falling 1.64% and 1.5%, respectively.  

On the BSE Sensex pack, 25 out of 30 stocks ended in negative terrain, led by Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, M&M, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Reliance Industries. On the other hand, NTPC, Titan, Trent, ITC, and Bajaj FinServ were only five gains.

Overall, the market breadth was weak, with 2,501 stocks declining out of total traded shares of 4,173 on the BSE. On the other hand, 1,526 shares advanced and 146 ended unchanged. A total of 119 stocks hit their 52-week highs and 110 touched 52-week lows. Additionally, 224 stocks were locked in their upper circuit limits, whereas 225 slipped to their lower circuit limits.

The market's sharp fall with Sensex dropping 500+ points and Nifty sliding below 24,500 reflects several converging pressures. Trump's tariff shock, adding 25% duties to bring total tariffs to a punishing 50% from August 27 while firmly rejecting any trade talks, has severely unnerved investors about US-India relations, said Nitant Darekar Research Analyst at Bonanza.

Foreign institutional investors have turned aggressive sellers, offloading Rs.15,950 crore worth of stocks throughout August as they flee from India's expensive valuations amid weak fundamentals.

Technical charts paint a grim picture with Nifty consistently making lower lows, confirming the bearish trend.

Corporate earnings continue to disappoint, with blue-chip names like TCS from IT services and Kotak Bank delivering lackluster results that offer little hope for FY26 recovery.

Adding to the woes, RBI's hawkish stance keeping repo rates unchanged at 5.5% alongside rupee weakness has further dampened foreign investor sentiment about risk-adjusted returns from Indian markets.

The Indian equity market exhibited downward movement, closing at a three-month low amid growing concerns over the impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian exports, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments.

"FIIs remained net sellers, intensifying the pressure on domestic indices. The pessimism was broad-based, with realty and metals bearing the biggest brunt. Additionally, global financial institutions have begun revising India’s economic outlook downward, citing the adverse effects of the ongoing tariff concern. Growth projections for 2025 and 2026 have been lowered, reflecting heightened uncertainty surrounding India’s trade and macroeconomic environment."

The bears resumed their downward move after a brief pause in the previous session. Nifty extended its losing streak to the sixth consecutive week, slipping below its 100-DMA at 24500, which is now expected to act as an immediate hurdle, said Nilesh Jain, Head – Technical and Derivatives Research Analyst (Equity Research), Centrum Broking .

The 200-DMA, placed at 24050, is likely to offer near-term support for the Nifty. The overall trend remains weak as long as the index trades below 24800, with any pullbacks likely to face selling pressure.