MUMBAI: India’s benchmark indexes ended flat on Wednesday as gains in heavyweight financials countered losses in pharma and IT stocks on concerns that President Donald Trump would impose more tariffs on US imports.
The Nifty 50 ended the day 0.05% lower at 22,932.9, while the BSE Sensex fell 0.04% to 75,939.18.
On Tuesday, Trump said that he intends to levy auto tariffs “in the neighbourhood of 25%” and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports.
This resulted in Indian pharma stocks falling 0.7% as the US accounts for nearly 31% of total domestic pharma exports.
Renewed concerns over Trump’s tariff threats triggered weakness in pharma, while IT stocks gave up their previous session’s gains, said Vikram Kasat, head of advisory at PL capital of Prabhudas Lilladher.
IT stocks, which also get a significant chunk of their revenue from the US, lost 1.3% on the day. They had gained 1% on Tuesday.
In contrast, nine of the other 11 sectors advanced, with high-weight financials rising 0.8%. These stocks have gained 1.2% in three sessions.
“The rise in financials has lent resilience to India’s benchmarks over the last three sessions and is a consequence of investors preferring banks and the benchmark indexes due to their cheaper valuations as they seek safety,” said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.
Other Asian markets were muted, ahead of the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting, which is due after Indian markets close.The broader smallcaps and midcaps rose 2.4% and 1.6%.
Still, the indexes are trading 21.25% and 17.1% below their all-time high levels hit in September and December, respectively.
Among individual stocks, technology firm Hexaware Technologies rose 7.7% in its debut trading after returning to the public markets.
Aurobindo Pharma lost 2.4% after the US drug regulator concluded an inspection at the drug maker’s unit with five observations.
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