Sensex, Nifty open lower ahead of RBI MPC decisions as tariff threats get deeper

Mumbai:  Indian equity indices opened in the red on Wednesday, following its global peers, as US President Donald Trump threatened reciprocal tariffs on the global pharmaceutical sector.

Ahead of the RBI monetary police committee (MPC) decisions — where a 25 bps repo rate cut is likely along with the stance shifting to ‘accommodative’ from ‘neutral’ — Sensex was down 302 points or 0.41 per cent at 73,939, and Nifty was down 107 points or 0.48 per cent at 22,433, in the early trade.

Along with largecaps, midcaps and smallcaps also fell. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 436 points or 0.87 per cent at 49,402 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was down 150 points or 0.98 per cent at 15,238.

On the sectoral front, auto, FMCG, consumption were major gainers. IT, PSU Bank, pharma, metal, realty, infra and commodities were major laggards.

In the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Nestle, HUL, M&M, ITC, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel were major gainers. Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, Eternal, TCS, Sun Pharma were major losers.

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities, said “We expect the markets to remain volatile today as well, as traders navigate the weekly derivative expiry today”.

“FPI traders purchased index options yesterday ahead of the weekly expiry, indicating their willingness to pay option premium prices while anticipating increased market volatility today,” he mentioned.

Selling was seen in the major Asian markets. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul were in the red. The US markets closed in the red on Tuesday due to recession fears.

The US has announced to impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on imports from China in response to the 34 per cent retaliatory tariffs China announced last week.

The additional 50 per cent duty on imports from China will bring the U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports to 104 per cent. Trump’s sweeping tariffs have raised fears of recession and upended a global trading order that has been in place for decades.

–IANS