MUMBAI: Aggressive selling by foreign investors amid increasing Trump tariff-driven uncertainties shaved off 1,414 points or nearly 2% from the sensex on Friday and left investors poorer by about Rs 9 lakh crore. The broader Nifty is down for the fifth month in a row — its longest losing streak in terms of points since its inception in 1996.
Across-the-board selling was led by software stocks. The rout came after the techheavy Nasdaq in the US slumped in overnight trades with its composite index down 2.8%. On Friday, the sensex opened deep in the red and slid through the hours to close at 73,198 points, a level not seen since in over eight months. Nifty too treaded a similar path and closed at 22,125 points, down 420 points or 1.9% lower.
The larger-than-expected fall was due to uncertainties surrounding the actual impact of the countervailing tariffs imposed by the US, and similar walls erected by other countries including China, Joseph Thomas of Emkay Wealth Management, said. “What has caused much consternation is the possibility of China devaluing its currency in re sponse to the tariffs to sustain its trade competitiveness,” he added. However, the last time China devalued its currency, that had led to outflow of funds from the country. Thomas says such a move may have consequen ces for other regional currencies like Taiwan’s and South Korea’s, but the rupee, being a ‘managed float’ in nature, may not be as affected.
The day’s slide came on the back of a Rs 11,639-crore net selling figure by foreign funds. This was the biggest single-session net outflow by FPIs from the equity market since Oct 3, 2024, official data showed. Outside of the blue chips, the impact of the selloff was worse.