Indian Stock Market Opens in Red Amid US Tariff Tensions; IT & Financials Drag, FIIs Continue Sell-Off

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Indian equity markets opened lower on Friday as renewed concerns over US tariffs weighed on investor sentiment. Early trade saw selling pressure in IT and financial services stocks. At 9:38 AM, the Sensex was down 272.30 points or 0.34% at 80,350.96, while the Nifty slipped 75.60 points or 0.31% to 24,520.55.

Analysts noted that the market remains technically and fundamentally weak, with Nifty’s lower levels signaling bearish momentum. Earnings growth for FY26 also shows no strong upward trend yet. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the ongoing India-US tariff dispute is likely to keep the negative sentiment alive, with Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continuing to sell in the cash market. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, are providing some relief with steady buying.

In sectoral moves, Nifty Bank dropped 124.90 points or 0.22% to 55,396.25, Nifty Midcap 100 fell 226.10 points or 0.40% to 56,712.20, and Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 62.85 points or 0.36% to 17,629.80.

Amrita Shinde, Technical & Derivatives Analyst at Choice Broking, observed that despite a weak start and an early fall of around 225 points, Nifty staged a strong recovery, gaining over 250 points from the day’s low to close higher. The bullish candlestick pattern signals renewed buying interest. On the Sensex, top losers included Bharti Airtel, Infosys, BEL, Eternal, and Axis Bank, while Titan, Bajaj Finance, Trent, and Bajaj Finserv were the top gainers.

FIIs sold shares worth ₹4,997.19 crore on August 7, while DIIs bought ₹10,864.04 crore. Across Asia, markets in China, Japan, and Jakarta traded in the green, while Bangkok, Seoul, and Hong Kong were in the red. In the US, the Dow Jones closed 224.48 points or 0.51% lower at 43,968.64, S&P 500 fell 0.08% to 6,340, while Nasdaq rose 0.35% to 21,242.70.