Key gauges continue to trade marginally in green in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade marginally in green in morning deals, led by gains in IT, Metal and TECK stocks. Traders took some support as the government revised upwards its foodgrain production estimate for the 2024-25 crop year to a record 353.95 million tonnes, with wheat output alone projected at 117.50 million tonnes, as the country posted bumper harvests across key crops. The revised estimates show significant increases in production of wheat, rice, maize and several oilseeds. Some support also came as the government has approved continuation of Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) for 2025-26 under which farmers get short-term credit at affordable rate through Kisan Credit card (KCC). The continuation of the scheme will cost exchequer Rs 15,640 crore. However, gains were limited amid volatility linked to the monthly futures and options expiry. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mostly in green after technology giant Nvidia buoyed investors with a bullish outlook for the growth in artificial intelligence and the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked President Trump's proposed 'Liberation Day' tariffs, saying he had overstepped his authority. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81455.59, up by 143.27 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 81430.01 and 81816.89. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.09%, while Small cap index was up by 0.26%

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.81%, Metal up by 0.75%, TECK up by 0.70%, Auto up by 0.58% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.49%, while Bankex down by 0.12%, Capital Goods down by 0.09%, Oil & Gas down by 0.08%, Power down by 0.05% and PSU down by 0.05% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 1.52%, Trent up by 1.32%, Infosys up by 1.20%, Tata Motors up by 1.13% and Sun Pharma up by 0.86%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 0.82%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.47%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.30%, SBI down by 0.18% and ICICI Bank down by 0.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India’s industrial production growth, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed to an 8-month low of 2.7 per cent in April 2025 due to poor performance of manufacturing, mining and power sectors. The factory output growth was lower than 5.2 per cent growth in April 2024. The government has revised upwards industrial growth figure for March 2025 to 3.9 per cent from the provisional estimate of 3.0 per cent released in the previous month. The Quick Estimates of IIP for April 2025 stood at 152.0 against 148.0 in April 2024.

The manufacturing sector’s output growth slightly decelerated to 3.4 per cent in April 2025 from 4.2 per cent in the year-ago month. Mining production contracted by 0.2 per cent as against a growth of 6.8 per cent a year ago. Electricity sector growth also slowed to 1.1 per cent in April 2025 against 10.2 per cent in the year-ago period. The Indices of Industrial Production for the Mining, Manufacturing and Electricity sectors for the month of April 2025 stood at 130.6, 149.5 and 214.4 respectively. 

Within the manufacturing sector, 16 out of 23 industry groups at NIC 2 digit-level have recorded a positive growth in April 2025 over April 2024. The top three positive contributors for the month of April 2025 are - ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ (4.9%), ‘Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers’ (15.4%) and ‘Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c.’ (17.0%).

The output of primary goods contracted by 0.4 per cent in April 2025 against 7 per cent growth a year earlier. The capital goods segment growth accelerated to 20.3 per cent in April 2025 from 2.8 per cent in the year-ago period. The expansion in the intermediate goods segment was 4.1 per cent in the month under review, up from 3.8 per cent a year ago. Infrastructure/construction goods reported a growth of 4 per cent in April 2025, down from an 8.5 per cent expansion in the year-ago period. Consumer durables grew 6.4 per cent during the reporting month against a growth of 10.5 per cent in April 2024. 

The data also showed that in April 2025, consumer non-durables output contracted 1.7 per cent compared to a contraction of 2.5 per cent a year ago. As per the use base classification, the indices stood at 151.6 for Primary Goods, 114.3 for Capital Goods, 164.2 for Intermediate Goods and 191.6 for Infrastructure/ Construction Goods for the month of April 2025. Further, the indices for Consumer durables and Consumer non-durables stood at 127.2 and 148.4 respectively.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24771.15, up by 18.70 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 24769.10 and 24889.70. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 1.55%, JSW Steel up by 1.54%, Trent up by 1.28%, Indusind Bank up by 1.25% and Infosys up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Product down by 1.37%, JIO Financial Services down by 0.84%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.81%, Shriram Finance down by 0.72% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.68% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 619.97 points or 1.64% to 38,342.37, Taiwan Weighted added 93.1 points or 0.44% to 21,450.82, Hang Seng advanced 150.05 points or 0.64% to 23,408.36, KOSPI increased 45.32 points or 1.7% to 2,715.47 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 24.04 points or 0.71% to 3,363.97.

On the flip side, Straits Times fell 10.47 points or 0.27% to 3,901.45.