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Bourses continue sluggish trade in early afternoon session
Apr-03-2025

Indian equity markets continued their sluggish trade in early afternoon session led by hefty losses in IT sector’s stocks. Traders were worried as US President Donald Trump imposed 'reciprocal tariffs' on all trading partners. U.S. tariffs have intensified a trade war threatening to tip the world into recession. Traders were also cautious ahead of HSBC India Services PMI data, which due on tomorrow. Investors overlooked the report that Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that essential and strategic items such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, and energy products like oil, gas, coal and LNG are exempted from the 27 per cent import duty announced by the US. On the global front, all Asian markets are trading lower after US President Donald Trump announced steeper-than-expected reciprocal tariffs on US trade partners. Trump imposed an additional 34 percent tariff on Chinese imports, raising total levies on China to 54 percent. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76373.66, down by 243.78 points or 0.32% after trading in a range of 75807.55 and 76493.74. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.12%, while Small cap index was up by 0.41%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 1.98%, Healthcare up by 1.81%, Power up by 1.32%, PSU up by 0.83% and Capital Goods was up by 0.61%, while IT down by 3.68%, TECK down by 2.85%, Auto down by 0.76%, Oil & Gas down by 0.70% and Energy was down by 0.50% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma up by 3.98%, Power Grid up by 2.56%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.27%, NTPC up by 1.86% and Asian Paints up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.81%, TCS down by 3.69%, HCL Tech down by 3.47%, Infosys down by 3.40% and Bajaj Finance down by 2.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that essential and strategic items such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, and energy products like oil, gas, coal and LNG are exempted from the 27 per cent import duty announced by the US. Overall, it said that the USA's protectionist tariff regime could act as a catalyst for India to gain from global supply chain realignments. 

However, GTRI said to fully leverage these opportunities, India has to enhance its ease of doing business, invest in logistics and infrastructure, and maintain policy stability. If these conditions are met, India is well-positioned to become a key global manufacturing and export hub in the coming years. It noted that the imposition of higher reciprocal tariffs by the US on several Asian countries, including China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, and Bangladesh, presents an opportunity for India to strengthen its position in global trade and manufacturing.  

However, GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said gains will not accrue automatically, and India needs deep reforms for enabling scale production, domestic value addition and improving competitiveness to benefit. With the US setting a relatively lower reciprocal tariff rate of 27 per cent on Indian goods, compared to 54 per cent on China, 46 per cent on Vietnam, 37 per cent on Bangladesh, and 36 per cent on Thailand, India gains a natural competitive advantage in several key sectors. He added that one of the most prominent areas of opportunity lies in textiles and garments as the high tariffs on Chinese and Bangladeshi exports create room for Indian textile manufacturers to gain market share, attract relocated production, and increase exports to the US.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23271.30, down by 61.05 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 23145.80 and 23306.50. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma up by 4.00%, Cipla up by 3.16%, Shriram Finance up by 2.44%, Power Grid up by 2.42% and Adani Enterprises up by 2.30%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.80%, TCS down by 3.70%, HCL Tech down by 3.53%, Infosys down by 3.43% and Wipro down by 2.66% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 989.94 points or 2.85% to 34,735.93, Hang Seng declined 338 points or 1.48% to 22,864.53, KOSPI dropped 19.16 points or 0.77% to 2,486.70, Shanghai Composite weakened 7.65 points or 0.23% to 3,342.48 and Straits Times was down by 4.8 points or 0.12% to 3,949.41. 
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