US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 90-day halt on the imposition of reciprocal tariffs came as a relief for investors, who returned to Dalal Street after a day off. The benchmarks – BSE Sensex climbed 1,310 points or 1.77 per cent to 75,157, and NSE Nifty50 rose 429 points or 1.92 per cent to 22,828 – led by heavy buying across metal, pharma, and consumer durable counters. However, on a weekly basis, the Sensex and Nifty posted a decline of 0.27 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively.
On Friday, from the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Reliance Industries (RIL) were among the top gainers, with gains of up to 4.87 per cent. Conversely, Asian Paints and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) were the only two Sensex stocks that ended lower, with losses of 0.76 per cent and 0.20 per cent, respectively.
Small-cap shares outperformed others in the broader market, with the Nifty Smallcap100 index settling 2.88 per cent higher, led by Atul and Welspun Living, which ended up by as much as 11 per cent. The Nifty Midcap100 index also ended higher by 1.85 per cent, led by PI Industries and Dixon Technologies, whose shares rose by up to 9.84 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal Index recorded the largest gains of 4.09 per cent, led by Hindalco and Jindal Steel. This was followed by consumer durables and pharma, which ended higher by up to 3.19 per cent and 2.43 per cent, respectively. Other sectoral indices also settled with gains in the range of 1–2.20 per cent.
Amidst this, the fear index (India VIX) settled lower by 6.17 per cent at 20.11 points.
That said, the market analysts expect the ongoing conflict over reciprocal tariffs to continue influencing the markets. In a recent development, China has retaliated by raising additional tariffs on American goods to a steep 125 per cent from 84 per cent. This move follows Trump’s imposition of a hefty 145 pe rcent tariff on Chinese goods.
Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities, expects intra-day volatility with a negative bias to make a comeback, as China hitting back with 125 per cent tariffs on US imports could trigger a sell-off going ahead.
Meanwhile, Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services, believes that any development in bilateral trade negotiations can alter the near-term outlook on export-driven sectors. “The supportive domestic environment with an ease in interest rates and a benign inflation trajectory is encouraging investors to have a balanced portfolio to aid in a better risk-reward in the long term,” said Nair. Notably, in week foward, the Indian equity markets will remain closed for trading on Monday, April 14 (Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti), and Friday, April 18, on account of Good Friday.
Nifty faces resistance at 23,500
The Nifty faced resistance around the 21-EMA on the daily timeframe, leading to a close off the day’s high. The trend for Nifty50, Rupak De, senior technical analyst at LKP Securities, said, appears bearish unless it decisively moves above 23,000, where significant open interest has been added.
On the downside, support is placed at 22,750; a break below this level, De believes, could intensify the bearish sentiment. “Conversely, a decisive move above 23,000 may trigger a rally towards 23,500, as suggested by the positive divergence in the RSI.”
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