Sensex Drops 200 Points, Nifty Below 24,550; Nazara Tech Down 6%

Indian stock markets fell in early deals on Thursday amid trade war concerns between the US and China. The BSE Sensex fell 111 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 80,605 levels, while the Nifty50 fell below the 24,600 mark.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were mixed with the former down 0.15 per cen, but the latter up 0.16 per cent.

Among sectors, only the Nifty IT index was in the green, up 0.7 per cent. The Nifty Media, Auto, and Metal indices, however, fell between 0.5 per cent and 2 per cent.

Global Cues

Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi fell 1 per cent in Asia-Pacific markets amid fears of tech war between the US and China.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.5 per cent, followed by Australia’s ASX200 (down 0.1 per cent).

The nervousness follows an equally wobbly session overnight in the US, where the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 2.8 per cent — posting its worst day since December 2022.

The moves came after Bloomberg on Wednesday reported that the Joe Biden administration is considering a wide-sweeping rule to clamp down on companies exporting their critical chipmaking equipment to China.

Besides, former president Donald Trump said Taiwan should pay the US for its defence. He also claimed Taiwan took ‘about 100 per cent’ of America’s semiconductor business.

The broad S&P 500 also shed 1.39 per cent.

Dow Jones, however, extended its gains to close 0.6 per cent higher.