The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with moderate cuts in the early afternoon trade as investor remained cautious following the US decision to impose an additional 25% tariff on imports. The Nifty traded below the 24,450 mark.
Oil & Gas shares witnessed selling pressure for third consecutive trading session.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex dropped 419.33 points or 0.52% to 80,124.40. The Nifty 50 index declined 142 points or 0.58% to 24,432.80.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.73% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.81%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,233 shares rose and 2,618 shares fell. A total of 158 shares were unchanged.
Trump's Tariff:
United States President Donald Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on August 6. This effectively doubles the total import duties to 50%. The decision responds to India’s ongoing purchase of Russian oil, which the U.S. believes undermines its sanctions. The new tariffs will come into effect on August 27.
The move is expected to severely impact key Indian export sectors, including leather, chemicals, footwear, gems and jewellery, textiles, and shrimp.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, down 0.25% to 11.93. The Nifty 28 August 2025 futures were trading at 24,509.80 at a premium of 77 points as compared with the spot at 24,432.80.
The Nifty option chain for the 28 August 2025 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 64.4 lakh contracts at the 25,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 43 lakh contracts was seen at 24,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Oil & Gas index declined 0.83% to 10,926.85. The index fell 2.01% in the three trading sessions.
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 2.02%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.92%), Gujarat Gas (down 1.54%), Castrol India (down 1.4%), GAIL (India) (down 1.09%), Reliance Industries (down 0.96%), Indraprastha Gas (down 0.96%), Gujarat State Petronet (down 0.87%), Mahanagar Gas (down 0.76%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.64%) declined.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Jindal Stainless declined 2.49%. The company has reported 11% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 715 crore on a 8% increase in revenue from operations to Rs 10,207 crore in Q1 FY26 over Q1 FY25.
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) tanked 5.97%. The company’s consolidated net loss widened to Rs 445.50 crore in Q1 FY26 compared with net loss of Rs 211.40 crore in Q1 FY25. Revenue from operations saw a marginal year-on-year (YoY) increase of 0.03%, reaching Rs 5,486.91 crore in the quarter ended 30 June 2025.