Bourses continue to reel under pressure in late afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued to reel under pressure in late afternoon session as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve interest rate decision. Foreign fund outflows also dented sentiment. Traders took note of report that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that the incoming data on economic growth is ‘mixed’, but the positive factors outweigh the negative ones. He stressed that the underlying economic activity by and large remains strong. He said it can be noted that many analysts have been voicing concerns about growth, especially after official data showed growth slowing to a 15-quarter low of 6.7 per cent in the first quarter of FY25.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as focus shifted to interest-rate decisions from the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve due later in the day. European markets were trading mostly in green boosted by banks and resources shares, with the focus on policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and other major central banks, including the Bank of England (BoE), later in the day.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79532.84, down by 845.29 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 79419.34 and 80563.42. There were 2 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.51%, while Small cap index was down by 0.21%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 2.51%, Utilities down by 1.58%, Basic Materials down by 1.54%, Auto down by 1.30% and Power was down by 1.23%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 0.44% and TCS up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.56%, Tata Motors down by 2.31%, Sun Pharma down by 2.25%, Indusind Bank down by 2.17% and JSW Steel down by 1.96% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, highlighting the Government’s efforts to reduce compliance burdens and decriminalise laws to promote ease of doing business, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal has emphasized the need to transform India into a powerhouse of engineering exports as the country advances towards the Viksit Bharat goal. 

The Minister said that achieving Viksit Bharat’s vision involves transforming India into a developed nation that needs the engineering fraternity to demonstrate their commitments towards resilient supply chains and high-quality production of goods along with collective commitment towards a sustainable future.

On Engineering Export Promotion Council of India's (EEPC India’s) 70th year celebrations, he called EEPC India as the model export promotion council and lauded the organisation for its contributions to different sectors of engineering. He said whether it is mobility, capital goods sector or steel industry, EEPC India has played a very important role in the growth of the nation’s capabilities. Regarding EEPC India's goal of reaching exports of $300 billion in the next 5-6 years, he noted that this target represents the courage and conviction new India demonstrates before the world.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24188.80, down by 295.25 points or 1.21% after trading in a range of 24179.05 and 24503.35. There were 5 stocks advancing against 45 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Apollo Hospital up by 6.31%, SBI up by 0.40%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 0.40%, TCS up by 0.15% and Wipro up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 8.50%, Trent down by 7.62%, Shriram Finance down by 3.75%, Grasim Industries down by 3.11% and Adani Enterprises down by 2.59% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 414.96 points or 1.98% to 20,953.34, Taiwan Weighted added 191.44 points or 0.82% to 23,408.82, Shanghai Composite strengthened 86.85 points or 2.5% to 3,470.66, Straits Times rose 70.65 points or 1.96% to 3,673.64 and KOSPI was up by 1.12 points or 0.04% to 2,564.63. On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 99.26 points or 0.25% to 39,381.41 and Jakarta Composite was down by 122.21 points or 1.66% to 7,261.66.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 1.75 points or 0.02% to 8,168.43 and Germany’s DAX gained 213.75 points or 1.12% to 19,253.06. On the flip side, France’s CAC was down by 6.18 points or 0.08% to 7,363.43.