Sensex, Nifty magnify opening losses in early deals amid weak global cues

Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-negative start on Tuesday tracking weakness in Asian counterparts, as traders remained cautious amid uncertainty after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to postpone the implementation of 50% tariffs on the European Union goods to July 9 from June 1. Trump decided to pause the levy following a call from EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Soon, Sensex and Nifty magnify their losses and are trading lower with cut of around a percent each in early deals. Traders were concerned with a private report that India's Index of Industrial Production, a measure of industrial output, will decelerate to 1.2 per cent year on year in April 2025 from 3 per cent in March due to the broad-based slowdown in economic activity, particularly mining and manufacturing.

On the sectoral front, Mining and construction equipment sector's stocks are in focus as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with Kearney, reported that India is poised to unlock a $45 billion opportunity in mining and construction equipment sector by 2030. In stock specific development, KEC International traded higher on healthy Q4 results.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81440.00, down by 736.45 points or 0.90% after trading in a range of 81303.88 and 82091.54. There were 1 stock advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.14%, while Small cap index was up by 0.05%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.18% and Healthcare up by 0.08%, while Utilities down by 1.01%, Oil & Gas down by 0.89%, Power down by 0.88%, Energy down by 0.88%, Bankex down by 0.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The sole gainer on the Sensex was Bharat Electronics up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.83%, NTPC down by 1.57%, Axis Bank down by 1.48%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.42% and Eternal down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member Arvind Virmani has said India is set to become the fourth largest economy in the world by overtaking Japan by the end of 2025. He said ‘India is in the process of becoming the fourth largest economy, and I am personally confident that will happen by the end of 2025 because we need (data) of all 12 months GDP to say that, you know, to assert that. So to say till then, it remains a forecast’.

Explaining further, Virmani said ‘When we discuss the size of economies publicly, we generally use US dollar current prices.’ He further pointed out that 'when we compare economy, we generally do it in terms of annual GDP'. He said IMF in its WEO report released in April gave a precise number, which showed that India's GDP for the full year 2025, would become higher than that of Japan.

He observed ‘I would say that I am pretty confident that that will happen, but the exact data will probably not be available till January or February, because we are talking about the whole year’. The IMF, in its World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released in April had said that India is expected to be the fourth largest economy in the world with a GDP of $4.19 trillion in 2025, ahead of Japan.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24782.30, down by 218.85 points or 0.88% after trading in a range of 24765.75 and 24976.10. There were 3 stocks advancing against 47 stocks declining on the index.

The few gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 0.64%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 0.19% and Cipla up by 0.07%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 2.04%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.04%, NTPC down by 1.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.48% and Axis Bank down by 1.48% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 196.4 points or 0.91% to 21,340.17, Nikkei 225 slipped 87.94 points or 0.23% to 37,443.59, Hang Seng declined 41.1 points or 0.18% to 23,241.23, KOSPI dropped 16.15 points or 0.61% to 2,628.25 and Shanghai Composite was down by 11.08 points or 0.33% to 3,335.76. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 5.13 points or 0.13% to 3,880.73 and Jakarta Composite was up by 1.95 points or 0.03% to 7,190.30.