Sensex, Nifty Tank on Trump Drug Tariffs

Mumbai, Sep 26 (PTI) Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled nearly 1 per cent on Friday, marking their sixth consecutive day of decline, following heavy selling in pharma and IT shares as US President Donald Trump announced 100 per cent duties on pharmaceutical drugs from next month.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 733.22 points or 0.90 per cent to settle at a three-week low of 80,426.46. During the day, it dropped 827.27 points or 1 per cent to 80,332.41.

The 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 236.15 points or 0.95 per cent to an over three-week low of 24,654.70. The index has been on a decline since September 19, tanking over 3 per cent in six straight sessions. Sensex has tumbled by 2,587.50 points or 3.16 per cent in six sessions to Friday.

Most pharma shares dropped, dragging the BSE Healthcare index down by 2.14 per cent after Trump's move to impose 100 per cent import tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs from October 1. Wockhardt shares tanked 9.4 per cent.

In his post on social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote, "Starting October 1st, 2025, we will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any branded or patented Pharmaceutical Product, unless a Company IS BUILDING their Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant in America."

The US President further clarified, "IS BUILDING" will be defined as, "breaking ground" and/or "under construction." There will, therefore, be no Tariff on these Pharmaceutical Products if construction has started.

Among Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Tech were the biggest laggards.

However, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, ITC and Reliance Industries were the gainers.

"Indian equities ended sharply lower on Friday in a broad-based sell-off after the US announced a steep 100% tariff on imports of branded and patented pharmaceutical products effective October 1. The unexpected move rattled already fragile investor sentiment, which was still digesting the recent hike in H-1B visa fees that triggered heavy selling in IT counters this week.

"Both IT and healthcare stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off, dragging the broader indices lower as investors rushed to reassess earnings outlooks and export growth prospects," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended significantly lower.

Equity markets in Europe were trading in positive territory. US markets ended lower on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,995.42 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.27 per cent to USD 69.23 a barrel.

On Thursday, the Sensex tanked 555.95 points or 0.68 per cent to settle at 81,159.68. The Nifty tumbled 166.05 points or 0.66 per cent to 24,890.85.