India's stock benchmarks fall most in over 4 months on renewed US tariff jitters
an 8 (Reuters) - India's benchmark shares logged their steepest one‑day fall in over four months on Thursday, dragged by heavyweight Reliance Industries, as uncertainty over U.S. tariffs spurred broad selling.
The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab fell 1.01% to 25,876.85 and the Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab lost 0.92% to 84,180.96. The indexes have lost 1.7% and 1.8%, respectively, this week.
All 16 major sectors fell on the day. The broader small-caps (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab and mid-caps (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab slipped 2% each.
The Indian rupee ended lower on Thursday on tariff woes and persistent outflows, which overpowered a fresh and surprise intervention by the central bank.
Foreign investors have offloaded shares worth $900 million so far in January, following record sales worth $19 billion in 2025.
The markets are not comfortable with the uncertainty over tariffs, said Anita Gandhi, head of institutional business at Arihant Capital Markets.
U.S. President Donald Trump is mulling imposing tariffs of up to 500% on countries buying oil from Russia, and had warned India of higher tariffs over the matter.
The U.S. has already imposed tariffs of up to 50% on goods from India, the world's second-largest buyer of Russian crude, while New Delhi seeks to finalise a long-awaited trade deal with Washington.
Exports-oriented apparel makers Gokaldas Exports (GOKL.NS), opens new tab and Pearl Global (PGIL.NS), opens new tab tumbled 8.5% and 7.9%, respectively. Seafood exporters Avanti Feeds (AVNT.NS), opens new tab and Apex Frozen (APEX.NS), opens new tab dropped 8.6% and 7.8%, respectively.
Metal shares (.NIFTYMET), opens new tab declined 3.4%, their biggest single-day drop in nine months, as the global metals rally lost steam. The sub-index had hit a record high on Tuesday.
Oil and gas stocks (.NIFOILGAS), opens new tab fell 2.8%, their worst session in nine months, as investors assessed Trump's plan to import Venezuelan crude. Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab lost 2.2%.
The IT index (.NIFTYIT), opens new tab fell 2%, pulling back after gains of 2.4% in the last two sessions.
Capital goods firms Larsen and Toubro (LART.NS), opens new tab and BHEL (BHEL.NS), opens new tab, which have a significant share of government projects, lost 3.1% and 10.5%. India's finance ministry has planned to scrap five-year old curbs on Chinese firms bidding for government contracts, Reuters reported, citing sources.
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