The trends on Gift Nifty also indicate a gap-down start for the Indian benchmark index. The Gift Nifty was trading around 23,201 level, a discount of nearly 125 points from the Nifty futures’ previous close.

Indian benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, opened lower on Friday, pressured by IT stocks, as weak global cues and U.S. President Donald Trumps broad tariff announcements stoked fears of a global recession.

Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed the benchmarks, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 falling over 1 per cent each. Volatile SMIDs bore the brunt of the selling pressure