The Indian benchmark indices opened in the red today, as investor sentiment was weighed down by US President Donald Trump announcing fresh tariffs on pharmaceutical products, furniture and trucks. In a Truth Social post, Trump stated that 100% tariffs would be imposed on branded or patented pharmaceutical products unless a pharmaceutical company builds its plant in America. 

Reacting to the news, the BSE Sensex slid 303 points or 0.39%, to 80,855, while the NSE Nifty50 declined 80.80 points or 0.32%, to 24,810. 

Sun Pharmaceuticals emerged as a top laggard on both the bourses, slipping notably by 3.04% in the first hour of today’s trade. On the Nifty50 front, Cipla followed suit, declining by 2%, Asian Paints by 1.54%, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories by 1.46%. 

On the other hand, Tata Motors, which was yesterday’s top loser, soared to take the top spot, trading 2.12% above yesterday’s closing price, as Jaguar Land Rover announced that sections of its digital estate are now up and running. L&T, HDFC Life, and Hero MotoCorp were the top gainers, each rising between 1% and 1.5%. 

All sector indices except Nifty Auto slipped amid a bearish mood, with Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare being the worst hit, each declining by 2.56% and 2.33% respectively. All continents of the Nifty Pharma were trading negatively, with Natco Pharma dragging by 4.29%. Only Torrent Pharmaceuticals was trading marginally lower in comparison to its peers, by 0.82%.

Nifty IT continued its fall, declining by 1.4%, as investor sentiments were dampened by new H1B visa reforms, which would be wage-based and not lottery-based anymore. This comes as a further blow after a new visa fee os $100,000 was announced recently. India’s prime IT companies, Infosys and TCS, were down by 1.62% and 1.07% respectively.

The broader markets reflected the cautious sentiment, as all indices were trading in the loss zone, with Nifty Smallcap 50 declining by 1.06%, while the Nifty Midcap 50 was down by 0.54%. 

Nifty VIX, the yardstick for market volatility, was up by 1.11%, showcasing the lacklustre sentiment of investors for today’s trading session. On the Sensex index, 7 stocks advanced, and 23 declined, while on the Nifty50 index, 14 gained, and 36 declined.