Nifty Falls 300 Points Ahead Of Trump's April 2 Tariff Deadline; Financial, IT Stocks Weigh Most

Stock Market Crash: The domestic stock market started the new financial year (FY26) on a rough note as investors turned jittery ahead of US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, set to take effect from April 2, 2025.

The BSE Sensex opened with a gap-down on Tuesday, April 1 and crashed over 1,200 points to trade around the 76,200 level, around the mid-day session. Similarly, the NSE Nifty 50 too fell more than 300 points to trade around the 23,200 level, erasing all the gains from the previous week.

India and the US are still negotiating to come out with a final trade deal, however, no official agreement has been made yet. The lack of a formal announcement has left traders and investors jittery and uncertain about how the domestic stock market will respond once the reciprocal tariffs come into effect.

Top Gainers & Losers

Dragging the benchmark indices are primarily financial and IT stocks. Among the Nifty 50 index constituents, Bajaj twins – Finserv and Finance – led the losses, followed by HDFC Bank, Infosys, Shriram Finance, HCL Tech, Hindalco and Axis Bank – each falling in the range 2-3.5 per cent. 

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank and Trent gained over 3.5 per cent each, capping the losses in the index. HDFC Life, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s and Bajaj Auto gained over 1 per cent each.

Realty Emerges As Top Sectoral Loser

Sector-wise, the Nifty Realty index fell the most in the morning session, crashing nearly 3.5 per cent. Following it, Nifty IT tumbled 2.4 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Metal dropped over 1 per cent each. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Oil & Gas also traded in the red.

Nifty Bank, which tracks 12 private and public bank stocks, slipped around 1.5 per cent to trade around 50,800 level. Leading the losses in the bank index are HDFC Bank, which cracked over 3 per cent, Axis Bank, which fell over 2 per cent and ICICI Bank, which slipped more than 1.5 per cent.

Stock Market Cues To Look Ahead Next Week

Bajaj Broking Research says, “As April begins, the focus will shift to the United States, with the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI (April 1) reflecting business sentiment and industrial output. Auto Companies will release their Auto numbers for the month of March 2025. On April 2, India’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI will indicate domestic manufacturing trends, while the US Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Nonfarm Employment Change report will provide a preview of private-sector job growth ahead of the official labour market data.”

The research firm adds, “On April 3, the US Initial Jobless Claims report will be closely watched as a leading indicator of labour market strength and potential Federal Reserve policy implications. The week will culminate with the US Nonfarm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate data on April 4. These figures will be crucial in assessing the labour market’s resilience and inflationary pressures, influencing Fed rate expectations and market volatility across equities, bonds, and currencies.”

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, believes that the market's reaction following the announcements will depend on the details of the tariffs and how they will impact different countries and sectors.