Markets recover sharply from day's low despite Trump’s 25% tariff blow

New Delhi: India’s stock markets demonstrated strong resilience on Friday, rebounding from sharp early losses triggered by former US President Donald Trump’s announcement 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.

Despite initial panic over potential disruptions to key export sectors, both Sensex and Nifty managed to recover by late morning, indicating limited investor panic.

At 12:35 hours, Sensex was trading at 81,484 points, while Nifty was pacing at 24,863 points.

In Nifty, Adani Enterprises, Asian Paints, and Reliance are trading with losses of 1 per cent.

Earlier in the morning, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 786.36 points to 80,695.50 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 212.8 points to 24,642.25.

Trump's announcement is being seen as a pressure tactic to get New Delhi to agree to demands made by the US, which has, in recent days, got favourable trade deals with major partners like Japan, the UK and the European Union.

The penalty was announced as India has made large purchases of oil and military equipment from Russia. India is the first country to face a penalty for Russian imports.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 850.04 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

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

The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday.