Key gauges extend losses in early afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks extended losses in early afternoon session due to emergence of profit-taking. Sentiments remained down-beat as investors waited for more clarity on how the US reciprocal tariffs, which will take effect on April 2, 2025, will impact the domestic economy. Some concern also came as S&P Global Ratings cut India’s GDP growth projections to 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal as it expects that economies in the APAC region will feel the strain of rising US tariffs and pushback on globalisation. Traders overlooked Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada’s statement that India and the US would focus on increasing market access, reducing import duty and non-tariff barriers, and enhancing supply chain integration in the proposed bilateral trade agreement. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green taking cues from the Wall Street, as the prospect of narrower-than-feared US tariffs boosted risk appetite. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77690.54, down by 326.65 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 77619.13 and 78167.87. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.08%, while Small cap index was down by 0.55%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.82%, Auto up by 0.52%, Power up by 0.52%, Industrials up by 0.46% and Basic Materials up by 0.27%, while Healthcare down by 0.92%, Telecom down by 0.76%, Bankex down by 0.59%, Energy down by 0.42% and Oil & Gas down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 3.62%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.39%, Power Grid Corporation up by 0.81%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 0.61% and HCL Technologies up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.79%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.27%, NTPC down by 1.84%, Axis Bank down by 1.71% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Road, Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari has said that the Vehicle Scrapping Policy is expected to reduce the prices of auto components by 30 per cent, which may reduce the rate of vehicles to benefiting consumers. He noted that the demand for Electric vehicles (EVs) will grow as the government is taking various steps to improve the charging infrastructure in cities and on highways.

The minister said the adoption of EVs will also increase as the prices of input materials come down. He said ‘we brought scrapping policy, because of which prices of the auto component will be reduced by 30 per cent’. He said prices of auto components have a direct bearing on vehicle prices. He added that prices of lithium-ion batteries have also come down in India.

He said many big companies like Adani Group and Tata are going to produce lithium-ion batteries on a large scale in India. The lithium-ion battery is a key component of electric vehicles. He also said that large lithium reserves, which have been discovered in Jammu and Kashmir, are 6 per cent of the world's total lithium reserves, sufficient to manufacture crores and crores of lithium-ion batteries. On the Indian automobile industry, he said it is growing at a healthy pace. The industry has become the third-largest in the world, pushing Japan behind.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23603.75, down by 64.90 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 23572.00 and 23736.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 3.61%, Trent up by 1.95%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.52%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.43% and Adani Enterprises up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.17%, NTPC down by 1.83%, Cipla down by 1.68%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.58% and Axis Bank down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 246.75 points or 0.65% to 38,027.29, Hang Seng advanced 61.72 points or 0.26% to 23,405.97, KOSPI increased 28.13 points or 1.06% to 2,643.94, Straits Times rose 12.38 points or 0.31% to 3,966.91 and Jakarta Composite gained 228.66 points or 3.67% to 6,464.28.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite weakened 0.71 points or 0.02% to 3,369.27 and Taiwan Weighted lost 12.9 points or 0.06% to 22,260.29.