Benchmarks make some recovery; continue to trade lower

The Indian equity markets have recovered from day’s low though continue to trade deeply in red, following the global sell-off in major equity markets. The fears of looming global trade war continue to haunt the Dalal Street after China announced 34% tariffs on US goods in relation of Trump’s tariffs announcement, meanwhile, the reports of European Union planning countermeasure to US tariffs has weighed on the investor sentiments. Besides, the implications of nascent global trade war on the global economy continues to worry the global markets.

On the global front, all Asian equity markets were trading lower as a global sell-off deepened and investors fled to the relatively safe-haven assets. European equity markets were trading lower.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 72717.06, down by 2647.63 points or 3.51% after trading in a range of 71425.01 and 73149.12. There was 1 stock advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 3.82%, while Small cap index was down by 4.62%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal down by 6.69%, Realty down by 5.58%, Industrials down by 5.27%, Basic Materials down by 5.11%, Capital Goods down by 5.05%, while there were no gainers on BSE sectoral index.

The alone gainer on the Sensex was Hindustan Unilever up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 8.08%, Larsen & Toubro down by 6.54%, Tata Motors down by 6.30%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.64% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 4.63% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has said that automobile retail sales in India rose 6 per cent to 2,61,43,943 units in FY25 with rural areas performing better than urban regions across passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments. The last financial year saw growth in sales of passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers. 

As per FADA, Registrations of commercial vehicles and tractors however saw a dip in FY25 as compared to FY24. Overall retail sales stood at 2,45,58,437 units in the 2023-24 fiscal. Passenger vehicle retail sales witnessed an increase of 5 per cent to 41,53,432 units in FY25 as compared to 39,60,602 units in FY24. Two-wheeler registrations rose 8 per cent to 1,88,77,812 units in FY25 as compared to 1,75,27,115 units in 2023-24 fiscal. 

It further said three-wheeler sales rose 5 per cent to 12,20,981 units in FY25 as compared to FY24. Three-wheelers saw a rural growth of 9 per cent in FY25 as compared to flat sales growth in cities. Commercial vehicle sales declined marginally to 10,08,623 units in FY25 as compared to 10,10,324 units in the 2023-24 fiscal. Tractor sales declined 1 per cent year-on-year to 8,92,410 units in FY25 as against 8,83,095 units in FY24.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22044.65, down by 859.80 points or 3.75% after trading in a range of 21743.65 and 22190.00. There was 1 stock advancing against 49 stocks declining on the index.

The alone gainer on Nifty was Hindustan Unilever up by 0.52%. On the flip side, Trent down by 14.88%, Tata Steel down by 8.04%, JSW Steel down by 8.02%, Hindalco down by 7.03% and Larsen & Toubro down by 6.65% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng declined 3021.51 points or 15.24% to 19,828.30, KOSPI dropped 137.22 points or 5.89% to 2,328.20, Nikkei 225 slipped 2644 points or 8.49% to 31,136.58, Taiwan Weighted lost 2065.87 points or 10.74% to 19,232.35, Straits Times fell 284.91 points or 7.45% to 3,540.95 and Shanghai Composite weakened 245.43 points or 7.93% to 3,096.58.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 347.28 points or 4.51% to 7,707.70, France’s CAC fell 383.18 points or 5.56% to 6,891.77 and Germany’s DAX lost 1125.8 points or 5.77% to 19,515.92.