By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks fell for a second straight session on Thursday, pressured by mounting concerns about the impact of U.S. tariffs on Indian goods, a day after punitive duties went into effect.
The Nifty 50 lost 0.85% to 24,500.9 points and the BSE Sensex shed 0.87% to 80,080.57. They have dropped about 2% in two sessions, with markets closed on Wednesday.
Small-caps and mid-caps declined 1.5% and 1.3%, respectively, while fifteen of 16 major sectors logged losses.
On Wednesday, the United States enforced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, including garments, footwear and jewellery, taking total duties as high as 50%.
Exporter groups estimate that nearly 55% of India’s $87 billion in merchandise shipments to the U.S. could be affected, while benefiting rivals including Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
“Domestic markets could remain under pressure as foreign portfolio investors’ equity inflows into India may be impacted,” said Pankaj Chhaochcharia and Dhirendra Tiwari, analysts at Antique Stock Broking.
FPIs have sold $2.66 billion of Indian shares in August, the highest since February, as U.S. tariff worries and muted earnings season weighed on sentiment.
The tariffs have triggered a sharp sell-off and are likely to keep markets under pressure as they are a challenge to India’s export-oriented sectors, particularly those that are labor-intensive and have a high U.S. dependency, said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart.
The heaviest stocks in the benchmarks, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, dropped 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Interglobe Aviation, which operates budget carrier IndiGo, fell 5.3% on reports of the co-founder’s discounted stake sale.
Ola Electric Mobility jumped 7.9%, extending gains for the second session after its Gen 3 scooters received compliance certification under a government scheme.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Sonia Cheema)
