Bourses continue to trade lackluster in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade lackluster in late afternoon session as traders got cautious after government’s data showed that India's trade deficit widen to $26.42 billion in April as compared to $21.54 billion in March. Besides, investors sought more clarity on US-India trade deal after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said “any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries. That would be our expectation from any trade deal. Until that is done, any judgement will be premature”. His statement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that India has offered to literally charge us no tariffs on American goods. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mixed tracking mixed cues from Wall Street. European equity markets were trading higher after a slew of weak U.S. economic data suggested the Federal Reserve may have more leeway to cut interest rates later this year. Back home, defence sector shares continued their winning streak for the sixth consecutive session.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82294.36, down by 236.38 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 82146.95 and 82514.81. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.67%, while Small cap index was up by 0.99%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.68%, Industrials up by 1.60%, Capital Goods up by 1.45%, PSU up by 1.28% and Utilities up by 1.20%, while TECK down by 1.37%, IT down by 0.81%, Healthcare down by 0.48%, Metal down by 0.42% and Bankex down by 0.18% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 1.71%, Asian Paints up by 0.98%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.89%, ITC up by 0.61% and Adani Ports up by 0.43%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.77%, HCL Technologies down by 2.08%, SBI down by 1.86%, Infosys down by 1.62% and TCS down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation in its latest press release titled ‘Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) - Monthly Bulletin April 2025’ has said that Unemployment Rate (UR) for persons of age 15 years and above was 5.1% in April, 2025. The male UR was higher at 5.2% compared to the female UR of 5.0% at the country level.

This new monthly data, gathered through the Current Weekly Status (CWS) metric of the Periodic Labour Force Survey, aims to offer quicker and more detailed insights into India's job market. Previously, the labour force survey was only published on a quarterly and annual basis.

According to the report, unemployment among ages 15-29, was recorded at 13.8% nationwide. Urban areas reported an unemployment rate of 17.2%, while rural areas stood at 12.3%. Further, the unemployment rate for women aged 15-29 was 14.4% nationwide, with a rate of 23.7% in urban areas and 10.7% in rural areas.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25000.30, down by 61.80 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 24953.05 and 25070.00. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 3.60%, Eternal up by 1.66%, Adani Enterprises up by 1.60%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.56% and Asian Paints up by 0.99%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 2.78%, Shriram Finance down by 2.10%, HCL Technologies down by 2.10%, SBI down by 1.90% and Infosys down by 1.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Jakarta Composite gained 48.86 points or 0.69% to 7,089.02, KOSPI increased 5.51 points or 0.21% to 2,626.87 and Taiwan Weighted added 113.44 points or 0.52% to 21,843.69, while Hang Seng declined 108.11 points or 0.46% to 23,345.05, Nikkei 225 slipped 1.79 points or 0% to 37,753.72, Shanghai Composite weakened 13.36 points or 0.4% to 3,367.46 and Straits Times fell 2.87 points or 0.07% to 3,889.07.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 34.77 points or 0.4% to 8,668.52, France’s CAC rose 45.14 points or 0.57% to 7,898.61 and Germany’s DAX gained 176.23 points or 0.74% to 23,871.82.