Stock Market Opening Today: Trump's Tariffs Keep Nifty, Sensex In Red; Pharma Pharma, Auto, IT Stocks In Focus

Stock Market Today: The Indian stock market made a cautious start on Friday after United States President Donald Trump's tariffs announcement triggered a massive sell off in the US markets. Nifty 50 opened nominally lower at 23190, whereas BSE Sensex was down 135 points to 76160.

Major IT stocks including TCS, Infosys, Wipro, etc were trading lower compared to previous session. The weak market sentiment impacted the textile stocks which appeared to be paring their gains made in Thursday. Pharmaceutical sector stocks remained weak after Donald Trump announced to impose separate tariff in the pharmaceutical industry.

Gift Nifty earlier indicated a cautious start of the Indian stock market indices after Donald Trump's US tariffs led all hell to break loose in the US stock markets. The announcement triggered a massive sell-off in the US market, sparking fears of recession.

On Thursday, Nifty 50 opened gap down following a sharp sell-off in global markets. Later in the day, Nifty 50 recovered nearly 100 points to close with a loss of just 82 points at 23,250 (-0.4%).

The US reciprocal tariff of 26% on India is higher than expected, but this tariff is relatively lower compared to that levied on countries like China (34% + 20% earlier), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (36%), Indonesia (32%) and Bangladesh (37%) which compete with India for the export share; thus improving India's potential export competitiveness.

"The broader market indices showed resilience, with Nifty Midcap100 and Smallcap100 ending in the green. Amongst sectors, Nifty IT was the top loser, plunging 4% on concerns over reduced IT spending in the US as a result of inflationary pressure expected to be caused by the tariffs. Auto index was down by 1% as President Trump confirmed the earlier imposition of 25% tariff on automobile and auto-part imports to the US from today. Meanwhile, the Pharma index gained over 2% as the sector was exempted from tariffs for now.," noted Motilal Oswal in its note on Thursday.

Stocks To Watch Today

Due to major updates stocks of HDFC Bank, Ultra Tech, Vedanta, Bandhan Bank, Avenue Super, Adani Wilmar will remain in focus today.

HDFC Bank

Shares of HDFC Bank were up 2% on BSE on Friday. Its shares are in focus today after the lender shared a Q4 update on Thursday. HDFC Bank, earlier, had received a notice from the SEBI warning about lapses in administration. In its BSE filing, HDFC Bank shared that its total advances have grown nearly 5.4% year-on-year to Rs 26.4 lakh crore in the January March quarter of financial year 2024-25. Whereas its deposits increased by 15.8% to Rs 25.3 lakh crore annually during the quarter under review.

"During the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the bank securitised/assigned loans of Rs 107 lakh crore (year to date Rs 570 lakh crore) as a strategic initiative," stated HDFC Bank in its exchange filing.

Mazagon Dock shares

Mazagon Dock shares nosedived on Friday after the company shared that the government will offload 4.8% stake in the defence PSU through an offer for sale (OFS). The government will sell nearly 4.83% of stake in Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders at a floor price of Rs 2,525 per share.

Infosys

Tech giant Infosys's shares were down nearly 2% on BSE on Friday, a day after the company filed a fresh lawsuit against the US-based Cognizant Technology Solutions. According to Times of India Report, the fresh accusations are made by Infosys against Cognizant over the alleged misuse of monopoly power to stifle competition and maintain dominance in the healthcare software market.

Ultra Tech

Shares of India's largest manufacturer of grey cement, Ultratech Cement, remained under pressure on Friday. The company scrip will remain in focus as on Thursday Ultratech Cement had announced the acquisition of 100 percent equity in Wonder WallCare at an enterprise value of up to Rs 235 crore. The transaction, set to take place as a part of a Share Purchase Agreement, will close within 90 days.