Markets make recovery to trade flat in late afternoon session

The Indian equity markets snapped most of the losses to trade flat in late afternoon session amid FII fresh fund inflow which has boosted the investor sentiments. The market sentiments remained optimistic as consistent FIIs buying persist, the FIIs were the net buyer on previous trading session with net buying of Rs 11111 crore marking the highest single day buying by FII in 2025. Besides, the Indian rupee is on the track on mark highest monthly gains since November 2018. However, the global headwinds surrounding US trade policies and geopolitical tension, capped the upside. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading lower as investors held to the sidelines, awaiting cues from the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge later in the day and the U.S. reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2. European equity markets were trading mostly in red amid signs that U.S. President Donald Trump could be intensifying a broader trade war that could damage growth worldwide.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77567.94, down by 38.49 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 77185.62 and 77766.70. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index down by 0.40%, while Small cap index was down by 0.08%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.91%, FMCG up by 0.80%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Energy up by 0.37% and PSU up by 0.17%, while IT down by 1.35%, TECK down by 1.00%, Auto down by 0.92%, Consumer Disc down by 0.70% and Utilities down by 0.67% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.33%, Tata Motors up by 1.23%, ICICI Bank up by 0.89% and Nestle up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.37%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.39%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.04%, HCL Technologies down by 1.88% and Infosys down by 1.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik has said that the government has taken steps to ensure uninterrupted power supply and meet the projected peak power demand of 277 GW in 2025-26. He said the All India Peak Demand for 2024-25 (till February) was 249.856 GW, registered on May 30, 2024. However, he said this peak demand was successfully met with only a marginal gap of 2 MW.

The minister said in 2025-26, a peak demand of 277 GW is expected as per the mid-term review of the 20th Electric Power Survey. He said the country is confident to meet this projected demand with optimal usage of existing and under construction capacities. Besides, he noted that all power generation companies, including independent power producers (IPPs) and central generating stations, have been advised to generate and maintain full availability on a daily basis, excluding the period of planned maintenance or forced outage. He further said planned maintenance of generating units is being minimised during the high-demand period. Steady supply of coal to all thermal power plants is being ensured to prevent fuel shortages. Directions under Section 11 of the Electricity Act have been issued to imported coal-based plants to operate and generate power to their full capacity. 

The Centre in November 2023 has proposed setting up an additional 80,000 MW coal-based thermal capacity by 2031-32. Against this target, a total coal-based capacity of 9,350 MW has already been commissioned in 2023-24 and 2024-25 and currently, 29,900 MW of thermal capacity is under construction. In 2024-25, contracts for 22,640 MW thermal capacity have been awarded, of which, 5,600 MW thermal capacity is now under construction. The hydro generation during the year 2024-25 (April, 2024 to February, 2025) was 1,39,780 million Units (MUs) as compared to 1,27,038 MUs during corresponding period of 2023-24, showing a growth of 10 % in Hydro generation. Any shortfall/variation in generation from RE Sources including hydro is handled with corresponding change in thermal generation so as to adequately meet the power demand.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23545.70, down by 46.25 points or 0.20% after trading in a range of 23451.30 and 23649.20. There were 24 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 2.99%, ONGC up by 2.65%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.94%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 1.79% and Tata Motors up by 1.26%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.64%, Wipro down by 3.09%, Cipla down by 2.62%, Shriram Finance down by 2.62% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.41% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng declined 152.2 points or 0.65% to 23,426.60, KOSPI dropped 49.17 points or 1.92% to 2,557.98, Nikkei 225 slipped 679.64 points or 1.83% to 37,120.33, Taiwan Weighted lost 348.87 points or 1.61% to 21,602.89, Straits Times fell 7.64 points or 0.19% to 3,973.93 and Shanghai Composite weakened 22.44 points or 0.67% to 3,351.31, while Jakarta Composite remained flat to 6,510.62.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 26.99 points or 0.34% to 7,963.12 and Germany’s DAX lost 89.56 points or 0.4% to 22,589.18, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 18.66 points or 0.21% to 8,684.78.