Mumbai, Aug 5 (IANS) The Indian stock market settled in negative territory on Tuesday amid a mixed reaction from investors following the US President Donald Trump’s fresh tariff threat and India’s stern reply to it.

Sensex closed at 80,710.25, down 308.47 points or 0.38 per cent. The 30-share index opened the session slightly down at 80.946.43 against last day’s closing of 81,018.72. However, the index further extended the loss amid a mixed approach in Auto, and Consumer Durable stocks and selling in the Pharma and Consumer goods sector.

Nifty settled at 24,649.55, down 73 points or 0.30 per cent.

“Sectoral trends remained mixed, as Auto and Consumer Durables showed relative strength, while most other sectors ended in the red. Notably, Oil & Gas, Pharma, Construction, and Consumer Goods experienced pronounced weakness,” said Ashika Institutional Equities in its note.

“Ahead of tomorrow’s monetary policy announcement, caution prevailed, and banking stocks came under renewed selling pressure during the second half of the session,” it added.

Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Eternal, BEL, Powergrid, and HDFC Bank were the top losers. While Titan, Maruti, Trent, Bharati Airtel, Bajaj Finance, L&T, SBI and Tech Mahindra settled in positive territory.

The majority of sectoral indices ended the session in negative territory amid a mixed approach. Nifty Fin Services fell 103 points or 0.39 per cent, Nifty Bank ended the session 259 points or 0.47 per cent lower, Nifty IT declined 168 points or 0.48 per cent, and Nifty FMCG closed 405 points lower. Nifty Auto settled in green.

Rupee traded weak at 87.80 as panic gripped markets following a late-evening post by the US President hinting at higher tariffs on India.

“Expectations that the US may pressure India to reduce Russian oil imports sparked fears of a higher import bill, pushing the rupee briefly below the 88.00 mark overnight,” said Jateen Trivedi of LKP Securities.

Some recovery was seen after the Ministry of External Affairs clarified India’s stance on crude purchases, Trivedi added.

–IANS

aps/na