Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended a volatile trading session in negative territory, with both the Nifty and Sensex snapping their four-day winning streak due to profit booking at higher levels. After making a cautious start, soon indices added some gains, amid fresh foreign fund inflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Tuesday, as they bought equities worth Rs 1,440.66 crore, according to exchange data. However, during the late morning session, markets relinquished their initial gains and turned volatile, as market participants were cautious ahead of the September-quarter earnings season.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India's outward FDI falls 8% in September 2025: Sentiments remained downbeat as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its data report has showed that India’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) commitments declined 8.27% to $4419.43 million in September 2025, from $4817.89 million in September 2024

India-US in continuous dialogue for trade pact: Traders overlooked Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India and the US are in continuous dialogue on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, and all possibilities are there to meet the November deadline for concluding the talks.

India, Brazil discuss expansion of preferential trade agreement: Traders took a note of the report that India and Brazil have discussed expansion of a preferential trade pact, market access issues and areas of collaboration in pharma and banking sectors.

Global front: European markets were trading in green with banks and energy stocks leading the surge despite ongoing political crisis in France and US government shutdown worries. Asian markets ended in red following negative cues from US markets overnight.

The BSE Sensex ended at 81773.66, down by 153.09 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 81646.08 and 82257.74. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 0.74%, while Small cap index down by 0.42%. (Provisional)

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.50%, TECK up by 1.34%, and Consumer Durables up by 0.37%, while Realty down by 1.88%, Power down by 1.49%, Auto down by 1.35%, Utilities down by 1.29% and Capital Goods down by 1.20% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 4.40%, Infosys up by 2.44%, TCS up by 2.02%, HCL Technologies up by 1.36% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.51%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.87%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.66%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.55% and Power Grid Corp down by 1.40% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that the organised gold loan (GL) market is likely to reach Rs 15 trillion mark in the current financial year (FY26), a year earlier than previously expected. It said the steady uptrend in gold prices, scaling new highs, is the key reason behind the sharper than envisaged expansion. Subsequently, ICRA now estimates the GL size to rise to Rs 18 trillion in FY27.

According to the report, GLs had expanded at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 26% during FY24-FY25 and stood at Rs 11.8 trillion as of March 2025, with banks showing a slightly higher expansion rate vis-a-vis non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Over the longer term too, i.e., during FY20–FY25 (six years), the bank GL asset under management (AUM) grew faster at around 26% relative to the 20% increase recorded by NBFCs, leading to a decline in the share of the latter in the overall organised GL AUM. It noted that growth in overall GLs was primarily fuelled by agriculture and other loans secured by gold jewellery, which were extended by banks. The same accounted for more than 70% of the overall GL as of March 2024. However, it said this segmental growth slowed significantly in FY25 as banks imposed stricter eligibility criteria and reclassified some of these loans under the retail/personal category. 

The report said consequently, the share of retail/personal gold loans by banks increased to 18% (of the overall GLs) in March 2025 from 11% in March 2024 and the share of agriculture and other loans secured by gold jewellery declined to 63%. Banks remain the dominant player with 82% market share in overall GLs with NBFCs contributing to the rest. It noted that the share of NBFCs has declined from 22% in March 2021, indicating bank’ established position in this space. The overall NBFC GL AUM stood at about Rs. 2.4 trillion as of June 2025, growing by around 41% on a YoY basis. NBFC GLs are concentrated among a few players; and their share has been steadily declining. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 25046.15, down by 62.15 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 25008.50 and 25192.50. There were 14 stocks advancing against 36 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 4.35%, Infosys up by 2.30%, TCS up by 1.80%, HCL Technologies up by 1.38% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.32%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.59%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.90%, JIO Financial Services down by 1.69%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.62% and Ultratech Cement down by 1.58% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 54.58 points or 0.58% to 9,538.16, France’s CAC rose 35.65 points or 0.45% to 8,010.50 and Germany’s DAX gained 110.32 points or 0.45% to 24,496.10.

Asian markets ended lower on Wednesday with Chinese and South Korean markets closing for holiday. Market sentiments weakened further by Wall Street’s overnight fall after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's latest consumer survey showed deteriorating future expectations and rising inflation projections. Mixed signals from Federal Reserve officials on the pace of interest-rate cuts and concerns about a bubble forming around artificial intelligence (AI) have also kept pressure on the market. Hong Kong shares fell, led by losses in major technology shares with caution ahead of the reopening of mainland Chinese markets after an eight-day National Day holiday. Japanese shares declined even as the Yen remained depressed amid bets that Sanae Takaichi's policies could delay Bank of Japan rate hikes.