Indian Shares Slump On Tariff, Geopolitical Worries

(RTTNews) - Indian shares came under heavy selling pressure on Tuesday, with concerns over tariffs, U.S.-Iran tensions and worries over AI-related disruptions keeping investors on edge.

Market sentiment remained fragile after U.S. President Donald Trump warned countries against abandoning trade deals, writing on Truth Social that any country "that wants to 'play games' with the ridiculous Supreme Court decision" will face higher tariffs.

If media reports are to be believed, Trump is considering imposing new tariffs on several industries that could affect sectors such as large-scale batteries, cast iron and iron fittings, plastic piping, industrial chemicals, and power grid and telecom equipment.

It is said these tariffs would be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and would be separate from the 15 percent global tariff that Trump has proposed to remain in effect for five months.

Investors also remain wary of tech disruptions ahead of a profit report from Nvidia coming on Wednesday. It is feared that companies like Alphabet and Amazon are spending so much on Nvidia's chips that they'll never be able to recoup their investments.

On the geopolitical front, the U.S. is shifting immense military assets into West Asia, sending a warning of its offensive intent to Iran.

The benchmark BSE Senex ended the session down 1,068.74 points, or 1.28 percent, at 82,225.92 while the broader NSE Nifty index tumbled 288.35 points, or 1.12 percent, to 25,424.65.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes fell 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,783 shares falling while 1,437 shares rose and 147 shares closed unchanged. IT stocks led losses, with TCS, Infosys, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra plunging 4-7 percent on growing anxiety about artificial intelligence technology that can perform tasks like coding, documentation and data processing, normally done by humans.

Among other prominent decliners, Eternal slumped 5.3 percent, Larsen & Toubro lost 3.4 percent and Trent gave up 3 percent.

On the positive side, NTPC surged 1.9 percent and Hindustan Unilever added 0.9 percent.