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Domestic indices remain in red in late morning deals
Apr-24-2025

Domestic equity indices were trading lower with cut of over quarter a percent in late morning deals amid mixed cues from the other Asian markets. Selling in Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Larsen & Toubro companies’ stocks dragged the markets lower. Traders were cautious as Finance Secretary Ajay Seth reportedly said the direct hit from tariffs introduced by Donald Trump’s administration on India could shave off between 0.2% and 0.5% from GDP growth. Further, depreciation in Indian rupee against dollar also weighed down sentiments. Rupee weakened by 9 paise to 85.54 against the dollar at the Inter-bank Foreign Exchange market on account of increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed after US President Donald Trump suggested he's willing to take a less confrontational approach to trade talks with China, predicting the current 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports will come down substantially. Back home, on the BSE sectoral front, traders were seen pilling up positions in Healthcare, IT, Basic Materials and Metal, while selling was witnessed in Realty down, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables and Energy.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79871.03, down by 245.46 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 79829.11 and 80173.92. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.15%, while Small cap index up by 0.32%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.71%, IT up by 0.40%, Basic Materials up by 0.40% and Metal up by 0.17%, while Realty down by 1.39%, FMCG down by 0.59%, Oil & Gas down by 0.54%, Consumer Durables down by 0.36% and Energy down by 0.35% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 4.91%, Nestle up by 1.26%, Tata Motors up by 0.89%, Asian Paints up by 0.76% and Ultratech Cement up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 4.10%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.39%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.17%, ICICI Bank down by 1.03% and Larsen & Toubro down by 0.41% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the minutes of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showed that with the inflation decisively around 4 per cent target and growth is still moderate and recovering, the monetary policy needs to nurture demand impulses to boost growth amid uncertain global environment, opined the members of the Reserve Bank’s rate setting panel while delivering another 25-bps rate cut earlier this month. Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by Governor Sanjay Malhotra had reduced the short-term lending rate by 25 basis points to 6 per cent on April 9. Meanwhile, a similar reduction was done in February. The RBI also changed its monetary stance to ‘accommodative’ from ‘neutral’.

As per the minutes, RBI Deputy Governor has warned that the GDP growth could face a downward pressure despite of inflation outlook remaining benign. More on growth prospects, RBI’s Executive Director and MPC member Rajiv Ranjan stated that while growth is still reasonable, it is lower than their aspirations, highlighting that the country’s forte is its higher growth potential supported by strong macroeconomic, fundamentals and requires policy impetus amidst a challenging global environment. 

Meanwhile, the external MPC member Nagesh Kumar, who like others voted for 25 bps reduction in repo rate, has emphasized the need of protecting domestic industry amidst changing global trade dynamic stating, the country needs to take action to protect the domestic industry from the dumping of Chinese goods, especially in labour-intensive consumer goods like garments, imitation jewellery, non-leather footwear, toys, and furniture where it is already rampant. He added that the ongoing FTA negotiations with the EU and UK need to be concluded quickly to preserve market access for Indian products in these markets. In the support of repo rate cut, the external MPC member Ram Singh, was of the opinion that overall, the inflation outlook has improved decisively, and confidence in a durable alignment of headline inflation with the target of 4 per cent over a 12-month horizon has improved.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24257.50, down by 71.45 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 24239.45 and 24347.85. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 4.85%, Grasim Industries up by 1.39%, Nestle up by 1.26%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.16% and Tata Motors up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 4.18%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.41%, Tata Consumer down by 1.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.22% and ONGC down by 1.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng declined 220.43 points or 1.01% to 21,852.19, KOSPI dropped 5.42 points or 0.22% to 2,520.14 and Taiwan Weighted lost 160.33 points or 0.82% to 19,478.81. However, Jakarta Composite gained 25.27 points or 0.38% to 6,659.65, Shanghai Composite strengthened 5.19 points or 0.16% to 3,301.55, Straits Times rose 16.3 points or 0.42% to 3,848.62 and Nikkei 225 surged 130.78 points or 0.37% to 34,999.41. 
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