Markets decline in early trade amid U.S. tariff related concerns, foreign fund outflows

Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Friday (August 1, 2025) amid tariff related concerns and sustained foreign fund outflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 111.17 points to 81,074.41 in opening trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 33.45 points to 24,734.90.

India will face tariffs of 25% on its exports to the U.S. as President Donald Trump issued an executive order listing the various duties that Washington will impose on exports from countries around the world.

From the Sensex firms, Sun Pharma tumbled over 5% after the company reported a 20% year-on-year decline in consolidated net profit to ₹2,279 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2025.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro were also among the laggards.

Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Asian Paints and Maruti were among the gainers.

In the Executive Order titled ‘Further Modifying The Reciprocal Tariff Rates’, Trump announced tariff rates for nearly 70 nations.

A 25% “Reciprocal Tariff, Adjusted” has been imposed on India, according to the list released. The executive order however does not mention the “penalty” that Mr. Trump had said India will have to pay because of its purchases of Russian military equipment and energy.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹5,588.91 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

“The August series starts on a weak note after the 3.1% dip in Nifty in July. In the near-term, the market will be influenced by the tariff-related news. Since the date of implementation of the modified tariff rates is August 7th, that gives countries time to negotiate and bring the tariffs down. That may happen.

“Yesterday’s market action indicates that the market views the 25% tariff as a short-term issue. The rate is likely to come down after the next round of negotiations beginning this month,” V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Sustained selling by the FIIs continues to be a negative, he added.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were trading lower.

The U.S. markets ended in negative territory on Thursday.

“Key drags include Trump’s tariff hike, hawkish Fed signals, soft Q1 earnings, FII selling, and a deteriorating technical setup,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.97% to $72.53 a barrel.

On Thursday, the Sensex declined 296.28 points or 0.36% to settle at 81,185.58. The Nifty dropped 86.70 points or 0.35% to 24,768.35.