Sensex, Nifty Crash Today: US Tariffs To West Asia Conflict Trigger Selloffs In Indian Market; Key Points Here

Sensex, Nifty 50

Ahead of the closing bell, Sensex is currently down by 322.31 points or 0.42% to trade around 76,069.24, at the time of writing. During the first-half trading session, Sensex nosedived by nearly 917 points and touched an intraday low of 75,474.43.

Strong buying in tech, banking, FMCG, and retail stocks offset some of the early losses on the benchmark. The top gainers list included HCL Tech, which zoomed by 2%, followed by ITC, Trent, Axis Bank, and TCS, which gained by 0.5% to 1%.

These indices failed to push the market into the green due to steep profit-booking heavyweight stocks like Infosys and Indigo who fell by 2% each after their quarterly earnings results. Bharti Airtel, Eternal, and M&M are also down by 2% to 2.5%. But Bajaj Finance led the losers' list with a 3% decline.

Coming to Nifty, the 50-scrip index is currently trading at 23,785.40, down by 84.20 points or 0.4%. In early trade, the benchmark nosedived by 263.3 points to hit an intraday low of 23,606.30.

"Technically, after a gap-down open, the market rebounded, but continued profit-booking at higher levels led to selling pressure once again. Furthermore, on the daily charts, it has formed a bearish candle, and on the intraday charts, it is maintaining a lower top formation, which supports further weakness from current levels," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research, Kotak Securities.

On a sectoral index basis, the Nifty Auto index slipped 1%, while the Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma indexes are down 0.5% each. India's volatility index surged by 5%, while mid-cap and small-cap indices performed in a narrow range.

US Tariffs Tantrum:

With effect from July 24, 2026, Trump imposed fresh tariffs ranging from 10% to 12.5% on more than 80 countries including India, the United Kingdom, Australia, and several European Union countries.

US Trade Representative said, "Trading partners that have made commitments to adopt, and effectively enforce, forced labor import prohibitions will have a 10% tariff, and trading partners that have failed to adopt a forced labor import prohibition will have a 12.5% tariff rate."

Earlier this week, Trump announced he would hike tariffs on generic drugs to 100% with effect from August 1, 2026. This tariff will rise to 200% on August 1, 2028.

Through his Truth Social account, Trump said, "Effective August 1st, 2026, all generic drugs being brought into the United States will continue to have a tariff of zero percent for two years, after which the tariff will be raised to 100 per cent for one year, and 200 per cent thereafter."

He added, "This is done in order to RESHORE generic pharmaceutical production into America, with a penalty to those companies that decide not to build plants and equipment within the stated period of time given to them."

Apart from the new tariffs, West Asia conflict continues to dampen sentiment for Indian stock market broadly.

Middle East Conflict:

According to Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments, the total uncertainty and high volatility in markets continues without any signs of immediate respite. The attack on Saudi tankers by the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea is the main reason for the recent sharp spike in Brent crude to about $100. Such high price is bound to revive India's Balance of Payments concerns. Rupee too has been impacted, though mildly, with the currency depreciating to 96.57 to the dollar.

"With the rupee weakening again, FPIs who had turned buyers on many days this month have again shifted to the sell-mode," the strategist added.

The spike in the US 10-year yield to 4.7% is negative for equity markets globally. Hence, the strategist believes "This is a near-term risk."

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