Mumbai, Aug 1 || The Indian markets started the day on the lower side on Friday, tracking weak global cues amid new Trump tariffs. The pharmaceutical stocks took the biggest hit, with Nifty Pharma declining 2.75 per cent.
At 9.25 am, Nifty 50 was down 51 points or 0.21 per cent from yesterday's close, now at 24,716, while the BSE Sensex has slipped 179 points or 0.22 per cent, trading at 81,005.
Among broad market indices, both BSE MidCap and BSE SmallCap rose 0.05 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty FMCG index was an outlier with a gain of 1.46 per cent. Apart from strong selling in pharma stocks, Nifty IT shed 0.80 per cent, the Nifty Metal index fell 0.99 per cent.
Among Nifty stocks, Hindustan Unilever (HUL) showed biggest gains with 4.45 per cent surge, followed by Tata Consumer Products, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, and Trent. Among laggards, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories took the lead slipping 1.41 per cent followed by Cipla, ONGC, Larsen & Toubro, and Tata Steel.
"Despite Nifty's bounce yesterday, the index remains vulnerable unless it sustains a move above the 24,800 mark. A close above this level could potentially open the path toward the 25,000 level. On the downside, immediate support is at 24,600, followed by 24,500," said Hardik Matalia from Choice Equity Broking.