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Informist, Friday, Apr. 11, 2025

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – Domestic benchmark indices closed sharply higher Friday as market sentiment was boosted after US President Donald Trump paused the high reciprocal tariffs for 90 days on Wednesday. However, the US retained the 10% baseline tariff. Sharp gains in financial services, oil and gas, and metal stocks helped indices to maintain most of the gains accumulated during the session. 

Domestic benchmark indices outperformed most of their global peers Friday, which fell as the face-off between the US and China intensified. While the US cut tariffs for most countries, sentiment in global markets were still weak as the US raised its tariffs against China to 145% and China retailiated and raised its own tariffs against US goods to 125%. This will lead to uncertainty and poses risks to disruption in global supply chains and increases probability of a slowdown in the global economy, analysts said.

Indian markets were closed Thursday and market participants got a chance to react to the news about a pause in tariffs on Friday. The Nifty 50 closed at 22828.55 points, up 1.9% and the BSE Sensex was at 75157.26 points, up 1.8%. Barring Asian Paints, Apollo Hospital Enterprises and Tata Consultancy Services, all the Nifty 50 stocks closed higher. All the broader market indices also ended higher with mid- and small-cap indices up 2-3%. 

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, and JSW Steel were the top gainers and closed 4.7-6.4% higher. Metal stocks gained as global tariff war fears subsided after Trump withdrew the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, analysts said. CLSA maintained its 'hold' rating on Tata Steel with a target price of INR 145, stating the company's transformation plan of its Netherlands business will cut the costs by 15% and save 500 million euros (around INR 48.9 billion) in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar), CNBC-TV18 said. The company had said its wholly-owned subsidiary Tata Steel Nederland plans to transform its operations at IJmuiden in the Netherlands to boost competitiveness and efficiency. 

Pharmaceutical stocks rose sharply after the US paused the higher reciprocal tariffs. Analysts hope that the US will not announce any tariffs on the pharmaceutical sector as well amid this pause in reciprocal tariffs. Before announcing the pause, Trump had said he would look to impose strong tariffs on pharmaceutical imports in the "short term". Cipla, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories gained 1.4-3.4%. Mid-caps such as Laurus Labs, Granules India, and Natco Pharma ended up 4-7%. Shares of Biocon closed over 3% higher after its subsidiaries Biocon Biologics and Biocon Pharma got approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for Jobevne and Everolimus tablets, respectively. 

On the other hand, Apollo Hospitals, Asian Paints, and Tata Consultancy Services were the worst-hit stocks. Shares of TCS erased all gains and closed 0.5% lower, a day after the company missed the consensus estimates of both sales and consolidated net profit for the March quarter, and its operating margin fell 30 basis points on quarter.

"TCS is more resilient to the slowdown, but not immune to it, in our view," Sumit Pokharna, vice-president, fundamental research – information technology at Kotak Securities, said. Uncertainty in global markets in the past few weeks have led to delays in decision-making and put pressure on discretionary spending, Pokharna said.

PI Industries, which ended nearly 9.5% higher, was the biggest gainer in the Nifty 200 index. Nearly 44% of the company's revenue came from the US and the pause in tariffs may have pushed investors to buy the stock. The stock had fallen over 7% in three sessions post the reciprocal tariff announcement earlier this month. Shares of SRF closed over 7% higher after it commissioned the INR 2.39-billion agrochemical intermediates project in Dahej, Gujarat.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Metal gained the most and closed 4.1% higher. The Nifty Consumer Durables and the Nifty Energy closed 2.7-3.2% higher. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 47 rose and three fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 28 rose and two fell

* On the NSE, 2,381 stocks rose, 492 fell, and 86 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 3,115 stocks rose, 846 fell, and 118 were unchanged

* Nifty Metal: up 4.1%; Nifty Consumer Durables: up 3.2%; Nifty IT: up 0.7%

BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 75157.26, up 1310.11 points or 1.8%       Nifty 50: 22828.55, up 429.40 points or 1.9%

End

US$1 = INR 86.04

Edited by Tanima Banerjee

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