MUMBAI, Jan 9, 2026, 20:50 IST
- Nifty 50 ends below 25,700; Sensex caps worst weekly drop in over three months
- Tariff uncertainty out of Washington keeps traders on edge, with foreign selling adding to pressure
- Vodafone Idea jumps on telecom dues relief; Reliance and HDFC Bank weigh
Indian shares fell for a fifth straight session on Friday, with the Nifty 50 closing down 0.75% at 25,683.3 and the Sensex off 0.72% at 83,576.24. Both benchmarks lost about 2.5% for the week, their worst in over three months, while small- and mid-cap indexes slid 3.1% and 2.6%. Oil and gas stocks led declines and Reliance Industries sank 7.4% for the week after it said it does not expect Russian crude deliveries in January; Ashika Global Family Office Services co-founder Amit Jain said extreme tariffs would “increase risk pricing” across assets. 1
The slide matters because the market is trying to price a legal and political coin toss in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to rule on the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and traders are also watching his talk of levies as high as 500% on countries buying Russian oil. Foreign investors have sold about $900 million of Indian shares so far in January after record sales of $19 billion in 2025, and “markets are not comfortable with the uncertainty,” Anita Gandhi, head of institutional business at Arihant Capital Markets, said. 2
Thursday’s flow data was ugly, too: foreign institutional investors (FIIs) — overseas funds that dominate daily turnover in big Indian stocks — sold a net 33.67 billion rupees in shares, provisional exchange data showed. “There is a high probability of the verdict going against Trump,” VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said, adding that the details would drive the market’s next move. On the charts, Kotak Securities’ Shrikant Chouhan said the market has broken below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA), a basic trend gauge, and warned the Nifty could drift toward 25,700-25,750 unless it climbs back above 26,000. 3
A few pockets moved against the tide on stock-specific news. Vodafone Idea jumped as much as 8.3% after the company said it secured relief on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues — a disputed revenue base used to calculate telecom levies — with dues frozen as of Dec. 31 and spread over 16 years starting March 2026. Bharat Electronics rose after it won 5.96 billion rupees of orders, while Elecon Engineering slid after its chief financial officer resigned. 4
Global cues did not help the mood. U.S. payroll growth slowed in December, with nonfarm jobs up 50,000 versus a Reuters poll forecast of 60,000, while Brent crude rose 0.6% to $62.36 a barrel, heading for a weekly gain. 5
There’s a simple risk line for traders: if the tariff story escalates, foreign money can keep heading out and the market’s “support” levels can fail fast. A surprise rollback, or even a softer signal from Washington, could spark a relief rally — but it might not last if policymakers find other ways to keep the levies in place.
For now, Dalal Street ends the week in headline mode. The next push likely comes from the U.S. court calendar and any fresh signal on tariffs and trade talks, with local investors watching whether the selling spreads beyond a few heavyweights into the broader market.
