Sensex plunges over 800 points from day's high, here's why 

Sensex plunged over 800 points in the afternoon session today as investors were concerned over global trade tariffs and booked profit. Profit-booking was evident today after the stock market rose for six straight sessions. US President Donald Trump has indicated that long-anticipated tariffs on automobile imports are likely to be announced in the coming days. 

Ahead of a major trade policy move expected on April 2, global automakers and investors have turned cautious. 

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

"Even though the market momentum favours the bulls, there is no fundamental support to take the market much higher from the present levels, particularly when President Trump’s Damocles sword of reciprocal tariff is hanging over the head of markets," said Vijayakumar. 

Sensex slipped over 800 points from the day's high of 78,741 and touched the 77,900 level in the afternoon session today.

At 1:22 pm, the 30-stock index stood at 77, 988  and Nifty rose 17 pts to 23,675.     

Investor wealth stood at Rs 414.99 lakh crore in the afternoon session today. 

Stocks such as UltraTech Cements, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank and TCS were the top Sensex gainers. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 13 were trading in the green. 

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities said, "We believe the short-term market formation is still on the positive side, but due to temporary overbought conditions, we may see some profit booking at higher levels. For day traders, the 23700-23800/78300-78500 range would be the key resistance zones, while 23500-23,400/77500-77200 could act as crucial support levels for trend-following traders. However, if the market drops below 23,300/76900, traders may prefer to exit their long positions."

As many as 60 stocks hit their 52-week highs today. On the other hand, 113 shares fell to their 52-week lows on BSE. 

BSE midcap index slipped 509 pts to 41,873 and BSE small cap stock index too fell 835 pts to 47,016 level. 

Out of 4,096 shares traded, 1,052 stocks were in the green on BSE. Around 2918 stocks were in the red and 126 stocks remained unchanged.

Around 289 stocks hit their lower circuits even as the stock market saw a strong upmove today. On the other hand, 186 shares hit their upper circuit limits amid highly volatile sentiment on BSE and NSE.

 Previous session 

Sensex rose 1,079 points to close at 77,984, while the Nifty advanced 308 points to settle at 23,658 on Monday.