More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2025

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – The direction of the benchmark indices Thursday is dependent on the extent of tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump post-midnight. Some analysts expect indices to rise if Trump is lenient on India while deciding on tariffs. Other analysts expect further selling from investors if the tariffs are severe.

The impact of 10-15% duty on Indian exports to the US is already factored in, but levies of 20-25% or above will be worrisome, Prashant Tapse, senior vice president – research at Mehta Equities, said. In the worst-case, Tapse said the Nifty 50 may fall by 300-400 points. It is like a "make or break" situation, he said.

On Wednesday, the Nifty 50 closed at 23332.35 points, up 0.7% and the BSE Sensex closed at 76617.44, up 0.8%. Financial services, consumer durables, and information technology stocks gained the most. Broader market indices outperformed their benchmark peers, closing sharply higher.

Analysts said investors would look at whether the tariffs are country-specific or would be generic to all trading partners of the US. They would also see how tariffs affect domestic products from industries pertaining to pharmaceuticals, jewellery, and agriculture or food, analysts said.

Investors will also look for comments or updates on whether the US is willing to negotiate even if the tariffs announced are higher, Ajit Mishra, senior vice president – technical research at Religare Broking, said. Another factor that would impact the movement of the benchmark indices is the positioning by investors ahead of the weekly expiry day, he said. There could be some volatility in the market considering all this, he said. For the rest of the week, Mishra expects the Nifty 50 to find support at 22800 points and face resistance at 23600 points.

On the earnings front, analysts said that the March quarter earnings would be better than the past three quarters. Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura Securities, expects fast-moving consumer goods companies to outperform. He said there is a pickup in urban consumption which would likely translate to better performance by FMCG companies. He expects some banks and information technology companies to underperform.

Overall, earnings of corporate companies are likely to see significant improvement in the second half of FY26, he said. The slowdown in the US economy and tariffs would hurt everyone and the recovery would take time, he said.  End

Edited by Ashish Shirke

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.