Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday after the RBI lowered its growth expectations for the current fiscal year and forecast inflation to rise to 5.1 per cent. Also adding to the bearish trend in equities were foreign fund outflows, geopolitical uncertainties and a weak trend in Asian markets.
Some of the important factors in trade:
India’s FDI equity inflows rise 18% to $58.84 billion in 2025-26: The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in its data has showed that India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows rose 18 per cent to $58.84 billion in 2025-26, with investments from the United States more than doubling during the last fiscal year.
RBI keeps policy rate unchanged at 5.25%: Amid rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia and concerns over inflationary pressures, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 5.25 per cent for the fourth time in a row.
India to bring at least 2-3 more FTAs into force over next six months: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India will bring at least two to three more substantive free trade agreements (FTAs) into force over the next six months, while another 3-4 such pacts are to be implemented in 2027.
India-US reiterate commitment to conclude mutually beneficial trade agreement: Aiming to strengthens bilateral trade and economic ties, the India and the United States (US) have reaffirmed their commitment to conclude a mutually beneficial trade agreement (BTA).
Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green despite lingering concerns about Middle East tensions, and reports saying Hezbollah has rejected a new ceasefire agreement with Israel. Asian markets settled mostly lower as lingering uncertainty over U.S.-Iran peace negotiations kept regional markets under pressure.
Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 116.67 points or 0.16% to 74,243.34 and the CNX Nifty was down by 49.85 points or 0.21% to 23,366.70.
The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 74,717.57 and 73,988.75, respectively. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.60%, Realty up by 0.58%, Healthcare up by 0.47%, Consumer Durables up by 0.45% and Bankex up by 0.39%, while Metal down by 1.62%, Telecom down by 1.52%, Basic Materials down by 0.95%, TECK down by 0.88% and IT down by 0.83% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 2.10%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.82%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.75%, Axis Bank up by 1.66% and Asian Paints up by 0.88%. On the flip side, Trent down by 2.21%, TCS down by 1.85%, Tata Steel down by 1.78%, NTPC down by 1.28% and HCL Technologies down by 1.20% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade in its data has showed that India’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows rose 18 per cent to $58.84 billion in 2025-26, with investments from the United States more than doubling during the last fiscal year. In the January-March quarter of 2025-26, the FDI equity investments grew 17.5 per cent to $10.9 billion.
As per the data, total FDI, which includes equity inflows, reinvested earnings and other capital, increased 17 per cent to $94.5 billion. FDI from the US rose to $11.17 billion in 2025-26 from $5.45 billion in 2024-25. Singapore was the largest source of FDI during the period, contributing $19.8 billion. It was followed by the US, Mauritius ($6.57 billion), Japan ($3.74 billion), and the Netherlands ($3.37 billion).
Sector-wise, inflows during April-December this fiscal in computer software and hardware rose to $13.94 billion, which was followed by the inflow in services at $10 billion, and trading at $4 billion. Inflow in the non-conventional energy sector stood at $3 billion during the period. Among states, the data showed, Maharashtra received the highest inflow of $18.41 billion during the period. It was followed by Karnataka ($12.93 billion) and Gujarat ($5.71 billion).
CNX Nifty touched high and low of 23,516.35 and 23,282.65, respectively. There were 23 stocks advancing against 27 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 2.36%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.01%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.96%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.73% and Axis Bank up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 3.07%, Hindalco down by 2.99%, Trent down by 2.38%, TCS down by 2.01% and Coal India down by 1.99% and were the top losers.
European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 45.06 points or 0.43% to 10,405.38 and France’s CAC rose 50.61 points or 0.61% to 8,294.90, while Germany’s DAX lost 1.65 points or 0.01% to 24,943.30.
Asian markets settled mostly lower on Friday, with South Korea's Kospi dropped more than 5% amid a major sell-off in artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks. The steep drop triggered by US chipmaker Broadcom's disappointing revenue guidance prompted the Korea Exchange to activate a sell-side ‘sidecar’ that temporarily halted program trading. Indonesian shares remained under pressure, fell more than 4% amid speculation that MSCI could downgrade Indonesia to Frontier Market status ahead of its June 19 review. Moreover, lingering uncertainty over US-Iran peace negotiations also kept regional markets under pressure. Meanwhile, investors were awaiting key US jobs report due later in the day.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 4,027.74 | -30.05 | -0.74 |
Hang Seng | 24,961.95 | -291.45 | -1.15 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,594.77 | -245.03 | -4.38 |
KLSE Composite | 1,693.43 | 10.17 | 0.60 |
Nikkei 225 | 66,588.12 | -882.57 | -1.31 |
Straits Times | 5,049.96 | -17.57 | -0.35 |
KOSPI Composite | 8,160.59 | -478.82 | -5.54 |
Taiwan Weighted | 45,070.94 | -606.52 | -1.33 |
