Bourses remain in red in early afternoon session

Indian equity markets continued their downward trade in early afternoon session with rising geo-political tensions. Sentiments were downbeat as Moody's Ratings cut India's GDP growth projections for 2025 to 6.3 per cent, from 6.5 per cent, saying economies globally will see a slowdown on account of heightened US policy uncertainty and trade restrictions. In its Global Macro Outlook 2025-26 (May update), Moody's said geopolitical stresses, like tension between India and Pakistan, also have a potential downside risk to its baseline growth forecasts. Meanwhile, traders overlooked the report that India’s Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for April 2025, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 58.7, an increase from 58.5 recorded in March.  

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green even after China's service sector grew at the slowest pace in seven months in April as disruptions to goods trade amid fresh tariffs negatively impacted new work of some service providers. The Caixin Services Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 50.7 in April from 51.9 in March. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 80590.51, down by 206.33 points or 0.26% after trading in a range of 80510.15 and 80981.58. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.08%, while Small cap index was down by 1.01%.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 0.42%, TECK up by 0.27%, Metal up by 0.12% and Telecom was up by 0.07%, while Realty down by 1.85%, Utilities down by 1.76%, Power down by 1.66%, PSU down by 1.65% and Oil & Gas was down by 1.40% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.88%, Tata Steel up by 1.72%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.61%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.15% and Nestle up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.10%, NTPC down by 2.05%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.89%, Adani Ports down by 1.88% and Titan Company down by 1.75% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, emphasizing the importance of the amalgamation, the Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju has said that with the implementation of ‘One State, One RRB’, regional rural banks will expand their lending in agriculture and allied activities, MSME and government-sponsored schemes. In order to further improve the viability and financial performance of the rural banks, the government has implemented ‘One State, One RRB’ under which 26 regional rural banks across 11 states and Union territories have been amalgamated into standalone RRBs. 

As per finance ministry’s reported data the RRBs have grown in their reach to more than 22,000 branches, covering 700 districts in the country, and more than 92 per cent of their branches are in rural and semi-urban areas. During 2024-25, RRBs have recorded a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,148 crore with Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) reaching to a new low of 5.3 per cent, which the lowest in a 10-year period.

It was decided that the sponsor banks, in consultation with the RRBs, will draft a five-year roadmap for the latter. He also urged the rural banks to continue to focus on their amalgamation process and long-term sustainability. He added that the sponsor banks have been asked to guide the RRBs in their amalgamation process and provide a level-playing field for long-term sustainability. Further, the sponsor banks should continue to facilitate technology upgrades in the RRBs and complete the integration process, adhering to the strict timeline of September 30. 

Nagaraju also suggested the sponsor banks and RRBs address the human resource-related issues emerging in the process. The ‘One State, One RRB’ has been in-effective since May 1,2025. The amalgamation has reduced the number of RRBs from 43 to 28, to further improve the viability and financial performance of the rural banks.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24394.80, down by 66.35 points or 0.27% after trading in a range of 24356.75 and 24509.65. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.22%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.04%, Tata Steel up by 1.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.56% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Adani Enterprises down by 3.13%, Titan Company down by 2.20%, NTPC down by 2.12%, Indusind Bank down by 2.03% and Cipla down by 1.90% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 195.68 points or 0.86% to 22,700.36, Jakarta Composite gained 72.18 points or 1.05% to 6,904.13, Shanghai Composite strengthened 33.56 points or 1.01% to 3,312.59 and Straits Times was up by 4.7 points or 0.12% to 3,857.77. On the flip side, Taiwan Weighted was down by 10.4 points or 0.05% to 20,522.59.