Markets trim opening losses to trade flat in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made a negative start on Monday as investors remained cautious ahead of Tariff Deadline on August 1 set by President Donald Trump. Soon, markets trimmed some of their opening losses and were trading flat in early deals. Investors are looking ahead to the release of India's industrial and manufacturing production data for June. Traders were concerned as the RBI said that India's forex kitty declined by $1.18 billion to $695.48 billion during the week ended July 18, 2025. Continued foreign fund outflows also dampened sentiments in the domestic markets. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold stocks worth of Rs 1,979.96 crore on Friday.

On the global front, Asina markets are trading mixed with the Nikkei index slipping ahead of the Bank of Japan’s rate decision, while Hong Kong led regional gains amid optimism over the US-EU trade deal.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81318.53, down by 144.56 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 81093.51 and 81478.05. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.75%, Oil & Gas up by 0.61%, FMCG up by 0.54%, Power up by 0.50% and Energy up by 0.49%, while Realty down by 2.13%, Bankex down by 0.79%, TECK down by 0.54%, Metal down by 0.48% and IT down by 0.41% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 1.39%, Tata Motors up by 0.93%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.59%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.54% and Power Grid Corp up by 0.53%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 6.31%, TCS down by 1.29%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.78%, Infosys down by 0.51% and Titan Co down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, amid global uncertainties, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that maintaining sustained growth is the top priority, and an incremental rise in public capital expenditure is one of the drivers for economic development. The statement assumes significance as the Indian economy grew by 6.5 per cent in FY25. This growth was the slowest in four years, and compares to a 9.2 per cent expansion in the previous 2023-24 fiscal. The Economic Survey has projected the GDP growth for FY26 between 6.3 per cent and 6.8 per cent, while the RBI lowered its growth forecast from an earlier level of 6.7 per cent to 6.5 per cent for the ongoing financial year.

She said ‘To maintain the growth is the topmost priority. Growth is the topmost, and therefore, it will have an overlap with how you create jobs…’ She said keeping India relevant amid global challenges and being there in a leadership position, and moving forward along with other countries are other priority areas, and added that the priority would also be to redefine the voice of the Global South. She further said finding resources for meeting many domestic economic aspirations within fiscal constraints is another priority.

She said ‘Public investments have kept pace. It has been Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clear instruction that we have to have capital expenditure grow and grow significantly. I confidently believe that it is one of the primary drivers of sustained economic growth’. The other focus area of the government is to push growth through a friendly and attractive FDI policy to be able to get more and more investments happening in India. Besides, the healthy competition among states to attract investment is also a good sign. About bilateral trade deals, she said such agreements are taking priority over multilateral trade.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24827.05, down by 9.95 points or 0.04% after trading in a range of 24732.70 and 24854.70. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 3.50%, Cipla up by 1.59%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.31%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.13% and Adani Enterprises up by 1.09%. On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 6.43%, Wipro down by 2.53%, TCS down by 1.11%, Hindalco down by 1.10% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.93% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 411.23 points or 0.99% to 41,045.00, Straits Times fell 11.43 points or 0.27% to 4,249.63, Shanghai Composite weakened 5.97 points or 0.17% to 3,587.69 and KOSPI was down by 0.66 points or 0.02% to 3,195.39. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted rose 110.64 points or 0.47% to 23,475.02, Jakarta Composite gained 97.73 points or 1.3% to 7,641.23 and Hang Seng was up by 57.65 points or 0.23% to 25,446.00.