Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets wrapped up Friday on a weak note, with the Sensex falling around 200 points and the Nifty slipping below 23,550 due to heavy selling in IT, auto, and pharma stocks. After a cautious start, indices turned volatile amid concerns over U.S. President Trump's tariff policies. In the afternoon session, the markets dipped into the red and remained lower until the close due to global trade concerns.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Govt to borrow Rs 8 lakh crore in April-September of FY26: Some cautiousness crept in as the finance ministry said the Centre plans to raise Rs 8 lakh crore through dated securities during April-September period of 2025-26 to fund the revenue gap.

India-US trade talks aim for $500 billion by 2030: Traders paid no head towards the Commerce and industry Minister Piyush Goyal statement that India and the US are in ongoing talks for a trade agreement. These discussions are progressing well and aim to benefit both nations while protecting India's interests. The two countries hope to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030. 

RBI likely to cut repo rate by 25 bps in April: Market participants overlooked report that India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) stated that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) monetary policy committee (MPC) is expected cut benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in its policy review meeting next month to push growth.

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in the red amid signs that U.S. President Donald Trump was intensifying a broader trade war, potentially damaging global growth. Asian markets ended in the red as investors stayed on 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

The BSE Sensex ended at 77414.92, down by 191.51 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 77185.62 and 77766.70. There were 10 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.68%, while Small cap index was down by 0.35%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.67%, Bankex up by 0.36% and Oil & Gas up by 0.32%, while IT down by 1.77%, Realty down by 1.44%, TECK down by 1.39%, Utilities down by 1.08% and Auto down by 1.07% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.78%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.95%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.79%, Nestle up by 0.75% and ICICI Bank up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.50%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.58%, Eternal down by 2.21%, HCL Technologies down by 2.20% and Infosys down by 2.12% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report ‘sectoral deployment of bank credit - February 2025’ has showed that credit to industry recorded a growth of 7.3 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025, compared with 8.4 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year. Among major industries, outstanding credit to ‘petroleum, coal products and nuclear fuels’, ‘all engineering’, ‘construction’, and ‘paper & paper products’ recorded an accelerated y-o-y growth.

According to the report, credit to services sector recorded a growth of 13.0 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025 (21.4 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year), with a decelerated growth in credit to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). However, credit growth (y-o-y) to computer software accelerated. Credit growth also remained robust in professional services and trade segments.

The RBI report also noted that credit to agriculture and allied activities registered a growth of 11.4 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025 (20.0 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year), while credit to personal loans segment registered a growth of 14.0 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025, as compared with 18.0 per cent a year ago, largely due to decline in growth rate in other personal loans, credit card outstanding and vehicle loans segments. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 23519.35, down by 72.60 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 23450.20 and 23649.20. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 2.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.00%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.91%, ONGC up by 1.74% and Tata Motors up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.66%, Indusind Bank down by 3.52%, Shriram Finance down by 3.32%, Cipla down by 2.74% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.46% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 36.01 points or 0.45% to 7,954.10 and Germany’s DAX lost 146.62 points or 0.65% to 22,532.12, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 1.32 points or 0.02% to 8,667.44.

Asian markets settled down on Friday tracking Wall Street’s fall overnight on trade war jitters, while investors were awaiting cues from the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge later in the day and the US reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2. Japanese shares declined on concerns that US President Donald Trump's tariffs could hit domestic production and auto sector jobs. Meanwhile, data showed Tokyo's inflation quickened to 2.9% in March from 2.8% in February, keeping the Bank of Japan on track for further interest rate hikes. Seoul shares declined sharply ahead of a meeting of top trade officials from South Korea, Japan and China this weekend to discuss economic cooperation amid increasing trade pressure from the United States.