Stock markets weather Trump tariff storm; Sensex, Nifty close higher

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty staged a comeback on Thursday, mainly due to buying in the last hour of trade, even as US President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25 per cent duty on Indian goods, which weighed on investor sentiment.

Rebounding around 926 points from the day’s low, the 30-share BSE Sensex edged higher by 79.27 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 80,623.26. The index traded in the red for most of the session and hit a low of 79,811.29. However, fag-end buying helped recover losses and touch a high of 80,737.55.

The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 21.95 points or 0.09 per cent to 24,596.15.

The latest US tariff action, imposition of an additional 25 per cent duty to take overall tariffs to 50 per cent on Indian goods over New Delhi's continued imports of Russian oil, is likely to hit sectors such as textiles, marine and leather exports hard. India has slammed the action calling it as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".

India will attract the highest US tariff of 50 per cent along with Brazil.

Among Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Eternal, Axis Bank, Maruti, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints were the gainers.

However, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in positive territory.

Markets in Europe were trading in the green.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,999.10 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.72 per cent to $67.37 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the Sensex fell 166.26 points or 0.21 per cent to settle at 80,543.99. The Nifty dipped 75.35 points or 0.31 per cent to close at 24,574.20.