The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty staged a strong rebound on Thursday, shrugging off early jitters sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of fresh tariffs on Indian imports. After falling nearly 0.9% in early trade, the benchmark indices recovered smartly and ended in positive terrain, driven by value buying in IT and pharma stocks.

Paring early losses, the BSE Sensex ended 79.27 points, or 0.1%, higher at 80,623, while the NSE Nifty rose by 21.95 points, or 0.09%, to settle 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%.

During the session, the Sensex declined as much as 733 points, or 0.9%, to hit an intraday low of 79,811, while the Nifty slumped 230 points, or 0.93%, to touch the day’s low of 24,344.15.

Markets witnessed sharp selling in early trade following Trump's executive order doubling tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, citing New Delhi's continued oil purchases from Russia. However, the 21-day implementation window provided some relief, with analysts saying this would create negotiation space between the two countries.

In the final hour of trade, the market gained momentum and ended in the positive territory. The 30-share Sensex closed 812 points above the day’s low, while the Nifty50 surged 252 points from its intraday low.

Investors appeared to have looked past concerns over U.S. tariffs and shifted their focus to domestic corporate earnings. Market sentiment also improved after analysts opined that the tariff move would have limited near-term impact on key sectors.

"Domestic equities recovered sharply from the intraday lows amid a volatile weekly expiry day. Although the earlier trade was weighed down by broad-based selling following steep U.S. tariff hikes on India, sentiment improved towards the close as reports of potential peace talks involving Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, which raised hopes of a softer U.S. stance on trade,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments.  

This renewed optimism triggered a strong rebound in the auto, pharma, metals, and energy sectors and aided the market in recalling its trajectory and concluding in the green, said Nair.

Despite the tariff concerns, the market's ability to recover from intraday lows of nearly 700 points on the Sensex demonstrated underlying strength and buying appetite at lower levels, said Vaibhav Vidwani, research analyst at Bonanza.

On the BSE Sensex pack, 17 out of 30 stocks ended in green, led by Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Eternal (Zomato), Axis Bank, and Maruti Suzuki India. On the other hand, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), and NTPC were among the major gainers.

Sectorally, Nifty Pharma, IT, Media, Auto, PSU Bank and Metal were among notable gainers, while Nifty Realty and Oil and Gas were the only losers.

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