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Sensex, Nifty trade lower with marginal cut in early deals
Mar-07-2025

Indian equity benchmarks made a cautious start on Friday and are trading lower with marginal cut in early deals, amid uncertainty surrounding Trump’s tariffs after he exempted the tariffs on goods come under USMCA, United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. The Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling on March 6 as they sold equities worth Rs 2377 crore. Some cautiousness came as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the impact of the US tariffs will be felt on India, and added that Union Minister Piyush Goyal is going to America and holding talks with the government there.

On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed, following the broadly negative from Wall Street overnight, as traders remained cautious and concerned about US President Donald Trump's shifting tariff policies and escalating global trade tensions that are fuelling concerns about economic growth.

Back home, cement sector stocks were in focus as Crisil in its India Outlook FY26 report said after two years of a pricing slump, the cement sector is expected to see price hikes in the next financial year. In stock specific development, Inox Wind traded higher as it bagged a 153 MW order from a leading renewable energy developer.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74153.69, down by 186.40 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 74038.03 and 74379.54. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.19%, while Small cap index was up by 0.79%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 0.96%, Capital Goods up by 0.81%, Realty up by 0.79%, Metal up by 0.61% and Basic Materials up by 0.50%, while TECK down by 0.50%, IT down by 0.49%, FMCG down by 0.45%, Bankex down by 0.34% and Utilities down by 0.29% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 0.91%, Reliance Industries up by 0.83%, Tata Steel up by 0.80%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.63% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.03%, NTPC down by 1.36%, HCL Technologies down by 1.08%, Zomato down by 0.87% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Intelligence in a report has said that India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth would be steady at 6.5 per cent in fiscal 2026 despite uncertainties stemming from geopolitical turns and trade-related issues led by US tariff actions. CRISIL’s forecast for India’s economy depends on two key factors. The rating agency anticipates that normal monsoon and commodity prices will continue to remain soft, which will keep the food prices stable. Cooling food inflation, the tax benefits announced in the Union Budget 2025-2026, and lower borrowing costs are expected to drive discretionary consumption.

As per the Crisil Intelligence, the growth is now returning to pre-pandemic rates as fiscal impulse normalizes and the high-base effect wears off. Even with that, the high-frequency Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data reveals that India maintains its pole position among major economies. It said ‘India’s resilience is being tested again. Over the past few years, we have built a few safe harbors against exogenous shocks–healthy economic growth, low current account deficit and external public debt, and adequate forex reserves–which provide ample policy latitude. So, while the waters can turn choppy, consumption-led rural and urban demand will be crucial to short-term growth’.

It further said that, on the other hand, continuing investments and efficiency gains will aid in the medium term. It added ‘We foresee both manufacturing and services supporting growth through fiscal 2031’. As per the agency, the manufacturing growth is expected to average 9.0 per cent per year over fiscals 2025-2031, up from 6 per cent on average in the prepandemic decade. The services sector is expected to grow slower, though it will remain the primary growth driver. As a result, the share of manufacturing in GDP will increase to 20 per cent from 17 per cent in fiscal 2025.

In fiscal 2026, the credit rating agency expects the recent softening in food inflation will continue and pull down the headline further. Inflation softened in fiscal 2025, led by lower non-food inflation, while food inflation has risen. The credit rating company further anticipated another 50-75 basis point rate reduction over the next fiscal. As per the report, sharp government focus on expanding capabilities in new-age sectors, achieving higher localisation and driving backward integration in key value chains and reforms such as the Make in India initiative, the phased manufacturing programme and PLI are showing green shoots across sectors. However, the report added that the global environment presents many headwinds. It also said the uncertainty about trade and tariffs will make it relatively more difficult to acquire technology, scale up and drive exports.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22497.30, down by 47.40 points or 0.21% after trading in a range of 22464.75 and 22572.85. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 1.82%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.50%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.48%, Bajaj Auto up by 1.43% and Tata Motors up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.17%, NTPC down by 1.36%, Shriram Finance down by 1.34%, BPCL down by 1.15% and HCL Technologies down by 1.08% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng surged 137.11 points or 0.56% to 24,506.82, Jakarta Composite gained 42.13 points or 0.64% to 6,659.98, Straits Times added 1.11 points or 0.03% to 3,918.17 and Shanghai Composite was up by 0.23 points or 0.01% to 3,381.33. On the other hand, Nikkei 225 slipped 779.06 points or 2.07% to 36,925.87, Taiwan Weighted lost 139.1 points or 0.61% to 22,576.33 and KOSPI was down by 5.31 points or 0.21% to 2,570.85.
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