Sensex falls over 300 points, Nifty below 24,650 on global trade tensions; Adani Ports, L&T top drags

Indian benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty opened lower on Tuesday, as concerns over global trade tensions weighed on investor sentiment, offsetting optimism around a possible rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India.

At around 9:32 am, the BSE Sensex was down 331 points, or 0.41%, at 81,042, while the Nifty50 slipped 42 points, or 0.16%, to trade at 24,685.

Among Sensex stocks, Adani Ports, L&T, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Bharti Airtel were the top losers, slipping up to 2.6% in early trade. On the other hand, Eternal, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata Motors opened with gains.

Adani Ports fell 2.6% following a Wall Street Journal report that US prosecutors are investigating whether Gautam Adani’s companies imported Iranian liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) into India through the Mundra port.

According to the WSJ report published on 2nd June, 2025, tankers travelling between Gujarat’s Mundra port and the Persian Gulf showed patterns typically associated with sanctions evasion. The report cited experts and individuals familiar with the matter, noting that the U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the activity of several LPG tankers that allegedly shipped cargoes to Adani Enterprises.
Meanwhile, Adani Enterprises dropped 1.7%, Adani Power declined 1.6%, Adani Energy Solutions slipped 1.5%, and Adani Total Gas fell 2%.

On the sectoral front, Nifty Bank and Financial indices fell 0.15%, while other rate-sensitive sectors such as Auto, Realty, and Consumer rose up to 0.25%, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) policy decision on Friday, as markets anticipate a 25-basis-point rate cut.

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Experts View

"During a consolidation phase, where the market moves within a range, buy on dips is the ideal strategy. And this strategy is working well now. With a lot of uncertainty in geopolitics, tariffs and trade the market will continue to remain volatile. Therefore, investors may persist with the strategy of buying on dips," said Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.

"Since the MPC is expected to cut policy rate by 25 bp in the policy meet on 8th, rate sensitivities are likely to be favoured in the coming days," Vijayakumar added.

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said, "Short-term resistance in the Nifty is near the 24900 level, while yesterday’s low of 24526 is expected to provide crucial support against any downside move."

Global Markets

Asia shares edged cautiously higher on Tuesday while the dollar fell to a six-week low as erratic U.S. trade policies clouded over markets and investors turned defensive ahead of key developments later in the week.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed early losses to last trade 0.6% higher, while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.66%. In China, mainland markets returned from an extended break on a muted note, with the CSI300 blue-chip index up 0.23% while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3%.

Nasdaq futures and S&P 500 futures were both down 0.2% each. In Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures advanced 0.28% and FTSE futures added 0.15%.

FII/DII Tracker

Foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded Indian shares for the second straight session on Monday, selling shares worth Rs 2,589 crore ($303 million). In contrast, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers for the tenth consecutive session, purchasing shares worth Rs 5,313.76 crore.

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Crude Oil

Oil prices rose in early Asia trade on Tuesday on concerns about supply, with Iran set to reject a U.S. nuclear deal proposal that would be key to easing sanctions on the major oil producer, and with production in Canada hit by wildfires.

Brent crude futures gained 55 cents, or 0.85%, to $65.18 a barrel by 0000 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 59 cents, or 0.94%, to $63.11 a barrel, after rising around 1% earlier in the session.

Rupee vs Dollar

The Indian rupee fell 16 paise to 85.55 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, rose 0.21% to 98.91 level.

(With inputs from agencies)