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EQUITY
Post Session: Quick Review
Mar-12-2025

Indian equity benchmarks ended flat with minor losses on Wednesday, weighed down by heavy selling in IT stocks. After a positive start, markets quickly slipped into the red, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of retail inflation data for February and industrial production figures for January, which were due later in the day. However, during the final hour of trading, Indices trimmed most of their losses but still closed with marginal cuts.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

FIIs selling weighs on sentiment: Some concern came as exchange data showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,823.76 crore on a net basis on Tuesday. 

Ongoing U.S tariff uncertainty: Traders were cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed an earlier plan to double tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum to 50 percent after Ontario's premier said he had agreed to suspend the Canadian province's 25 percent surcharge on exports of electricity to Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

IT stocks see sharp decline: Sentiments were dampened as a private report cited shifting global macroeconomic environment and technological changes as increasing risks for the tech sector, potentially putting valuations and revenue growth at risk.

Global front: European markets were trading in green, as optimism about a ceasefire in Ukraine is contributing to the positive mood in the market. Most of the Asian markets ended in green, even after confidence among Japanese large companies declined in the first quarter. The survey results from the Ministry of Finance showed that the business survey index for all industries fell to 2.0 in the first quarter from 5.7 in the preceding period.

The BSE Sensex ended at 74029.76, down by 72.56 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 73598.16 and 74392.15. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.57%, while Small cap index down by 0.48%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.47%, Utilities up by 0.41%, Bankex up by 0.36%, Energy up by 0.33% and Power up by 0.22%, while IT down by 3.02%, TECK down by 2.69%, Telecom down by 2.16%, Realty down by 1.74% and Metal down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.42%, Tata Motors up by 3.19%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.37%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.13% and ITC up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.18%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.80%, Nestle down by 2.43%, TCS down by 2.01% and HCL Technologies down by 1.91% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that with the normalisation of post-pandemic pent-up demand conditions, the growth in net sales of select FDI companies moderated to 9.3 per cent during 2023-24 from the high of 20.3 per cent in the previous year. The RBI has released the data relating to financial performance of non-government non-financial (NGNF) FDI companies in India during 2023-24 based on audited annual accounts of 2,418 companies, which reported in the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) format for three accounting years from 2021-22 to 2023-24. During 2023-24, manufacturing and services sectors recorded lower sales growth of 6.4 per cent and 12.7 per cent, respectively. Although the moderation in sales growth was broad-based across the major industries within the manufacturing and services sectors, the 'Wholesale and retail trade' and 'Electricity, gas, steam and air condition supply' industries remained exceptions. 

The paid-up capital (PUC) of these companies amounted to Rs 5,30,160 crore, which accounted for 51.1 per cent of the total PUC of FDI companies that had reported in the 2023-24 round of the RBI's annual census of foreign liabilities and assets of Indian direct investment companies. RBI has said that nearly half of the sample companies received direct investment from Singapore, Mauritius and the US, while Japan, the Netherlands, UK and Germany were other major countries which made direct investment in India. A major chunk of the sample companies belonged to manufacturing and services sectors, with about one-third of companies belonging to information and communication industries within services sector. 

On expenditure, RBI has said that with moderation in growth of manufacturing expenses and renumeration to employees, operating expenses recorded rise of 7.8 per cent during 2023-24, in tandem with the slowdown in sales growth. It added that despite lower growth in sales, cost rationalisation helped operating profits grow by 20.4 per cent during 2023-24 from 15.3 per cent growth during the previous year, at aggregate level; operating profit of manufacturing and services sectors increased by 20.4 per cent and 19.0 per cent, respectively.

Private limited FDI companies recorded higher profit growth as compared to public limited FDI companies. With higher growth in profit, share of internal sources of funds in total sources of funds increased to 52.1 per cent during 2023-24 from 48.1 per cent in the previous year; consequently, share of external sources of funds moderated to 47.9 per cent during 2023-24, mainly due to significantly lower increase in trade payables. During 2023-24, share of funds utilised for gross fixed capital formation in total sources of funds moderated to 38.8 per cent (48.3 per cent in 2022-23), while share of 'investment in equity instruments', 'bank balances other than cash and cash equivalents' increased during 2023-24.

The CNX Nifty ended at 22470.50, down by 27.40 points or 0.12% after trading in a range of 22329.55 and 22577.40. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.38%, Tata Motors up by 3.19%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.45%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.73% and ITC up by 1.53%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.31%, Wipro down by 3.44%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.84%, Nestle down by 2.48% and TCS down by 1.93% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; Germany’s DAX gained 333.36 points or 1.49% to 22,662.13, France’s CAC rose 89.94 points or 1.13% to 8,031.85 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 48.1 points or 0.57% to 8,544.09.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday ahead of the release of key US consumer inflation reading later in the day. Market sentiments were aided by a US decision to resume intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine after Kyiv said it would support the Trump administration’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. Although, tariff uncertainties remained a focus point for investors after US President Donald Trump's increased tariffs of 25% on all US steel and aluminum imports took effect today and the European Union said it will impose counter tariffs on 26 billion euros worth of US goods from next month. Trump reversed course on a pledge to double tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada to 50%, minutes after the Canadian province of Ontario backed off its plans for a 25% surcharge on electricity. Japanese shares ended almost flat after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said recent rises in bond yields were a natural reflection of market expectations of future interest rate hikes. Meanwhile, Japan's annual wholesale inflation hit 4% in February, keeping BoJ interest rate hike bets alive.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,371.92

-7.91

-0.23

Hang Seng

23,600.31

-181.83

-0.77

Jakarta Composite

6,665.04

119.19

1.82

KLSE Composite

1,484.83

-35.32

-2.32

Nikkei 225

36,819.09

25.98

0.07

Straits Times

3,833.07

7.24

0.19

KOSPI Composite

2,574.82

37.22

1.45

Taiwan Weighted

22,278.36

207.270.93
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