Mumbai, April 1 (IANS) Indian frontline indices declined sharply on Tuesday, dragged by the IT and financial service stocks, amid concerns over the upcoming US reciprocal tariffs from April 2.

At 11:05 am, Sensex was down 1,136.25 points or 1.47 per cent, at 76,260.90 and Nifty was down 283.70 points or 1.21 per cent, at 23,231.20.

Along with large caps, selling was seen midcap and smallcaps. Nifty midcap 100 was down 359.10 points or 0.69 per cent, at 51,313.35 and Nifty smallcap 100 was down 99.35 points or 0.61 per cent, at 15,997.15.

On the sectoral front, Nifty IT index was down over 2 per cent. Nifty financial services, pharma, metal, reality and auto were top laggards.

In the Sensex pack, IndusInd Bank, Zomato, Nestle, ITC and Bharti Airtel were top gainers. Bajaj Finserv, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, TCS and Sun Pharma were top losers.

According to Krishna Appala of Capitalmind Research, caution lingers amid global headwinds.

“Potential tariff announcements and their economic fallout remain key concerns influencing sentiment,” said Appala.

Looking ahead, near-term volatility from global factors is expected, but India’s strong domestic market supports a positive long-term outlook. In this context, assets like gold could act as a portfolio stabiliser, complementing broader investment strategies rather than serving as a tactical play, said experts.

Meanwhile, almost all markets in Asia were in the green zone. Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok and Hong Kong markets were trading higher.

The US markets recovered from a seven-month low on Monday and closed with a one per cent gain.

After witnessing buying in the previous six sessions, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers on March 28 as they sold equities worth Rs 4,352 crore. On the other hand, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) continued their buying on the second days as they purchased equities of Rs 7,646 crore on the same day.