Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, HCL Tech tank up 20% as Sensex crashes 1500 pts today

Select stocking including Punjab & Sind Bank, UCO Bank, Ipca Laboratories, Voltas, Suven Pharmaceuticals tumbled up to 20 per cent during the trading on Tuesday ahead of the Trump tariff fears. Investor sentiment remained jittered amid concerns over US President Donald Trump's push for sweeping reciprocal tariffs, leading to a solid beat attack at Dalal Street.

Benchmark index, BSE Sensex, crashed more than 1,500 points or nearly 2 per cent to slip below 76,000 mark, while NSE's Nifty50 nosedived nearly 385 points during the day to test its lows at 23,136.40. BSE midcap index was down one per cent, while the smallcap index managed to post mild gains. Fear gauge India VIX sputtered more than 9 per cent at 13.9-levels.

Globally markets are focused on the details of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs to be announced tomorrow. The market trends after the announcements will depend on the details of the tariffs and how they will impact different countries and sectors, said  VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments.

"FIIs turning buyers and the consequent short covering contributed to the rally. If the tariffs are lower-than-feared there can be a rally in the market which will be led by externally linked sectors like pharmaceuticals and IT. On the other hand if the tariffs are severe there can be another round of downturn in the market. Investors can wait and watch to respond," he added.

US administration under Donald Trump said that he would impose 'reciprocal' tariffs to match the duty rates other countries have imposed on US products. The President is likely to announce his plans on reciprocal tariffs on April 2, Tuesday, which weighed on the IT and pharma stocks, along with market as a whole.

In the Nifty50 pack, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Inofsys, Shriram Finance and Hindalco Industries crashed more than 3 per cent each. Sun Pharma, Titan, Bharat Electronics, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank were down 2 per cent during the day.

In the broader markets, Punjab & Sind Bank hit lower circuit of 20 per cent, while UCO Bank cracked nearly 14 per cent. Ipca Labs and Voltas tumbled 8 per cent each. Suven Pharma, Redington India, Info Edge, Atul, Persistent Systems, JB Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals, Prudent Corporate Advisory Services Schaeffler India and dropped 5-7 per cent each for the day.

On a sectoral front, Nifty Realty index was the biggest loser, eking out 2.75 per cent. Nifty IT Index crashed 2.75 per cent, while the Nifty Pharma and Consumer Durable Indices were down 2 per cent each. Nifty Media and Oil & Gas indices were the only gainers. Nifty Healthcare, Financial Services and Private Bank indices shed 1.25-1.75 per cent each.

India’s economic challenges may have troughed, and trends in some key parameters suggest that the outlook is improving, said JM Financial.

"We prefer large caps where 1-year forward P/E of 18.6 times is not that far from the 25-year average of 17.2 times. Midcaps and small caps are still not cheap, trading higher than +1SD. A key near-term worry is Trump’s likely announcements on April 2, 2025, which, if too harsh on India, can cause another round of correction in the India market," it said.
 

Interestingly, market breadth favours the bull as 2,587 stocks, out of 4,119 stocks traded on BSE on Tuesday, were seen in green, while 1,371 stocks decline during the day. 161 stocks were recorded unchanged. A total of 326 stocks hit their upper circuit limits for the day, while 232 counters tester their lower circuit limits.

Provisional data available with NSE suggest that FPIs turned net sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 4,352.82 crore on Friday. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities to the tune of Rs 7,646.49 crore. Net-net, FPIs sold equities worth Rs 3,973 crore in March 2025.

The flows of FPIs, DIIs and other investors have seen several twists and turns in the past few weeks. FPIs have turned net buyers, but retail investors have turned sellers (direct basis) while still buying through MFs said Kotak Institutional Equities. "This follows months of large FPI selling and MF and retail buying. Indian market can be tough to follow, but the ending is reassuringly the same."