Trump 2.0 jitters: Sensex tanks over 1,200 points, Nifty ends at 23,024

As the new US President Donald Trump began his second innings with signing several executive orders along with sounding threats about impending trade tariffs on certain countries and BRICS nations, both Sensex and Nifty plunged on Tuesday.

Trump’s remarks targeting BRICS nations, reiterating his intention to impose 100 per cent tariffs on countries reducing their reliance on the US dollar for global trade, induced negative sentiments in the Indian market, according to market experts.

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex tanked 1,235 points or 1.6 per cent to 75,838, while the Nifty 50 dropped 320.1 points or 1.37 per cent to 23,024.

The decline in the share market resulted in investors' losing over Rs 7 lakh crore.

On the BSE Sensex, only two stocks were in the positive territory -- UltraTech Cement and HCLTech.

Meanwhile, significant losses were seen in Zomato stock, which fell almost 11 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra.

On the Nifty 50, eight stocks managed to stay in the green -- Apollo Hospitals was the top gainer, up by 2.76 per cent, followed by UltraTech Cement, BPCL, Tata Consumer Products and JSW Steel. Losses on the index were led by Trent, down 4.50 per cent, along with ICICI Bank, NTPC and Mahindra & Mahindra.

According to Vikram Kasat from PL Capital-Prabhudas Lilladher, Indian stock markets erased their early gains and ended significantly lower in intraday trade.

“Large-cap stocks like Zomato, Reliance Industries, and Kotak Bank weighed heavily on the benchmark indices. Zomato was the biggest drag, contributing 170 points to the Sensex’s decline as its shares fell over 11 per cent after reporting a 57 per cent year-on-year drop in December quarter net profit,” he mentioned.

Investor sentiment remained weak amid lacklustre Q3 earnings and sustained selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who have sold equities worth Rs 48,023 crore (as of January 20).

Among sectors, FMCG was the only one trading higher, with a small gain of 0.34 per cent. All other sectors recorded losses -- the Consumer Durables index was the worst performer, dropping 3.59 per cent, followed by the Realty index, down 3.04 per cent.

Other notable declines were seen in Nifty Bank, down 1.33 per cent, financial services were down 1.31 per cent, auto down by 1.04 per cent, and media down by 1.04 per cent.

Broader markets also took a hit, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 down by 1.70 per cent and the Nifty Midcap 100 lost 1.68 per cent. Adding to investor concerns, India's fear gauge, the India VIX index, surged 5.92 per cent to 17.39.

The rupee initially traded strong at the opening, gaining 0.20 paise to reach 86.29 on the back of a weaker dollar overnight. The dollar softened following US President Trump's inauguration ceremony, which introduced tariffs on imports along the Mexican and Canadian borders, creating short-term market uncertainty.

The US markets were closed on Monday to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. Day national holiday.