Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-down opening on Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from India starting August 1, plus an unspecified penalty for buying Russian crude oil and military equipment. Sensex and Nifty are trading lower with cut of over half a percent each in early deals amid sustained selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling streak for the eighth consecutive session on July 30, offloading equities worth Rs 850 crore.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly lower after weaker-than-expected Chinese activity data and a plunge in copper prices, while investors weighed a trade deal between South Korea and the US. Back home, semiconductor company stocks are in focus as the government approved financial support for 23 companies to develop chipsets under the design-linked incentive scheme.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80952.18, down by 529.68 points or 0.65% after trading in a range of 80695.15 and 81050.83. There were 2 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.69%, while Small cap index was down by 0.50%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Telecom down by 2.09%, Oil & Gas down by 1.52%, Energy down by 1.39%, TECK down by 1.27% and IT down by 1.01%, while there was no gainer on the BSE sectoral front.

The only gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 1.12% and Power Grid up by 1.09%, Tata Steel up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.69%, Reliance Industries down by 1.41%, Infosys down by 1.16%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.11% and HCL Technologies down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has announced the imposition of a 25 per cent tariff on all goods coming from India starting August 1, plus an unspecified penalty for buying military equipment and crude oil from Russia. The surprise announcement came a day after Indian officials said that a US trade team would visit from August 25 to negotiate a trade deal. Trump termed India's trade policies as ‘most strenuous and obnoxious’. He said ‘All things not good! India will therefore be paying a tariff of 25 per cent, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August first’. The penalty because India has made large purchases of oil and military equipment from Russia.

India's import of crude oil from Russia has risen from 0.2 per cent of total purchases before the Russia-Ukraine war to 35-40 per cent. New Delhi is the largest buyer of Russian oil after China. Trump said though India is America's friend, ‘we have, over the years, done relatively little business with them because their (India) tariffs are far too high, among the highest in the world, and they have the most strenuous and obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers of any country’.

He said India have always purchased significant amount of military equipment and energy products from Russia at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the ‘killing’ in Ukraine. Among India's major trade competitors, the US has imposed lower tariffs on Vietnam (20 per cent) and Malaysia (25 per cent), but higher on Bangladesh (35 per cent) and Thailand (36 per cent). In 2024-25, bilateral trade between India and the US reached $186 billion. India exported $86.5 billion in goods while importing $45.3 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24707.95, down by 147.10 points or 0.59% after trading in a range of 24635.00 and 24728.95. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were JIO Financial Services up by 3.34%, Eternal up by 1.29%, Power Grid up by 1.23%, JSW Steel up by 0.35% and SBI Life Insurance up by 0.16%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.72%, Adani Enterprises down by 1.61%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.58%, Reliance Industries down by 1.39% and Infosys down by 1.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 325.93 points or 1.31 to 24,851.00, Straits Times fell 24.99 points or 0.59 to 4,194.42, Shanghai Composite weakened 24.46 points or 0.68 to 3,591.26, Jakarta Composite dropped 22.6 points or 0.3 to 7,527.29 and KOSPI was down by 15.79 points or 0.49 to 3,238.68. on the other hand, Nikkei 225 surged 355.3 points or 0.87 to 41,010.00 and Taiwan Weighted rose 95.05 points or 0.41 to 23,556.77.