Markets struggle for direction in late afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks were hovering around neutral lines in late afternoon session as investors avoided to take risk ahead of the U.S.-China trade talks. Weak opening in European counterparts also weighted down on investor sentiments. Downside remained capped as traders took note of report that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has reiterated that India is taking a practical, forward-looking stance in ongoing trade discussions with the United States, emphasizing that talks are progressing behind closed doors and not through media headlines. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed and European markets are trading mostly lower as investors closely monitored the second day of high-stakes U.S.-China trade negotiations. 

Back home, hospitality industry stocks are in focus as ICRA revised the outlook on the Indian Hospitality industry to Stable from Positive, considering the expectations of normalised revenue growth of 6-8% in current finical year (FY26) on the high base, posted after three years of double-digit revenue expansion seen by the industry over FY23 to FY25. In stock specific development, Zee Entertainment Enterprises soared after entering into a strategic equity partnership with content and tech start-up Bullet.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82377.90, down by 67.31 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 82240.40 and 82680.79. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.06%, while Small cap index was up by 0.27%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.56%, Utilities up by 1.02%, Power up by 0.91%, TECK up by 0.84% and Basic Materials up by 0.45%, while Realty down by 1.21%, Telecom down by 0.50%, Bankex down by 0.21%, Consumer Discretionary down by 0.16% and Energy down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 2.11%, Tata Motors up by 1.77%, Infosys up by 1.58%, TCS up by 1.23% and ITC up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.34%, Asian Paints down by 1.21%, Bajaj Finance down by 0.99%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.97% and Tata Steel down by 0.95% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that there is no declining trend in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into India, though periodic fluctuations may occur sometimes due to global interest rate changes. He added India is seeing renewed overseas inflows and the government is open to suggestions and will adopt new measures to promote FDI in the country. Over the last eleven financial years (2014-25), India attracted FDI worth $748.78 billion, an increase of 143 per cent over the previous eleven years (2003-14), which saw $308.38 billion in inflows. Additionally, the number of source countries for FDI increased from 89 in 2013-14 to 112 in 2024-25, underscoring India's growing global appeal as an investment destination.

He said ‘I don't think that there is any declining trend, periodically there may be some changes, and that happens more due to changes in interest rate cycles in other countries, so if the bond yields in some countries become exorbitantly high, money tends to flow into those countries. we have once again seen money flowing back into India’. He highlighted that in 2024-25, India received a total FDI of $81 billion, which is the highest in the last three years. With $81 billion, he said India is back into the FDI growth trajectory, and added that ‘We are a listening government. We are open to suggestions and we are always ready to adopt newer measures’.

The highest was $84.83 billion in 2021-22. Foreign direct investment in India fell 24.5 per cent year-on-year to $9.34 billion in the January-March quarter of 2024-25 but grew 13 per cent to $50 billion during the entire previous financial year. Total FDI, which includes equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital, grew by 14 per cent to $81.04 billion during the last financial year. The same stood at $71.3 billion in 2023-24. During 2024-25, Singapore emerged as the largest source of FDI with $14.94 billion inflows. Sectorally, inflows rose in services, trading, telecommunication, automobile, construction development, non-conventional energy and chemicals.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25112.80, up by 9.60 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 25055.45 and 25199.30. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Grasim Industries up by 3.95%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 2.34%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.12%, Tata Motors up by 1.73% and Infosys up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.41%, Asian Paints down by 1.23%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.02%, Tata Steel down by 0.98% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.97% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Taiwan Weighted jumped 451.85 points or 2.03% to 22,242.14, Nikkei 225 surged 122.94 points or 0.32% to 38,211.51, Jakarta Composite gained 98.17 points or 1.36% to 7,211.60 and KOSPI increased 16.08 points or 0.56% to 2,871.85. On the other hand, Hang Seng declined 18.56 points or 0.08% to 24,162.87, Shanghai Composite weakened 14.95 points or 0.44% to 3,384.82 and Straits Times was down by 3.43 points or 0.09% to 3,932.89.

European markets were trading mostly in red; Germany’s DAX lost 200.18 points or 0.83% to 23,974.14 and France’s CAC fell 17.39 points or 0.22% to 7,774.08, while UK’s FTSE 100 rose 28.15 points or 0.32% to 8,860.43.