Share Market Today 25 August: Nifty and Sensex opened with gains
Share Market Today 25 August: Indian stock markets began the new week on a positive note during Monday's opening session, drawing encouragement from a surge in other Asian markets. Nonetheless, the outflow of foreign portfolio investors and worries about potential new tariffs continue to pose significant challenges for the domestic indices to maintain their upward trajectory.
The BSE Sensex index opened at 81,501.06, higher by 194.21 points or 0.24 per cent, while the Nifty 50 began the day at 24,949.15, up 79.05 points or 0.32 per cent.
Market experts pointed out that while Asian peers are cheering hopes of a possible rate cut in the United States, Indian markets face headwinds from tariff hikes and persistent foreign outflows.
Banking and market expert Ajay Bagga told ANI that India will brace for additional tariffs of 25 per cent, which are scheduled to take effect from August 27. "The total tariffs of 50 per cent plus the existing MFN tariffs that were in place before the present Trump 2.0 tariff surge, make most Indian sectors unviable," he said.
He further explained that Asian share markets are rallying as investors anticipate the likely resumption of interest rate cuts in the US and are also eyeing Nvidia's results this week to justify high valuations in the technology sector.
"Emerging markets are seeing strong inflows based on country ETF data. Except India, which continued to see foreign portfolio outflows, while strong domestic flows ensure the market is not correcting sharply, though it has been an underperformer for over 12 months now versus both EMs and DMs," Bagga added.
Experts highlighted that around USD 48 billion worth of Indian goods exports could be impacted, with sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, and leather goods likely to face job losses, even as pharma and electronics remain exempted for now.
At the same time, the upcoming GST Council meeting scheduled for September 3-4 is being watched closely for a possible indirect tax stimulus that may support slowing but still growing urban consumption.
In the broader market indices on the NSE, Nifty 100 rose 0.22 per cent, Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.24 per cent, and Nifty Smallcap advanced 0.25 per cent, all reflecting the positive start.
In sectoral performance, except for Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Media, all others started with gains. Nifty IT led the rise with a 1.9 percent increase, followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty PSU Bank, both up by 0.44 percent, and Nifty Pharma, which rose by 0.12 percent.
Concurrently, other Asian markets showed significant gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 increased by 0.27 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged over 2 percent, Taiwan Weighted climbed 2.44 percent, and South Korea's Kospi advanced 1 percent at the time of this report.