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Key gauges end lower on Friday
Mar-28-2025

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday amid volatility, mirroring weak trends in global markets as tariff worries mounted and investors awaited a key U.S. inflation reading for directional cues. However, losses were limited as traders took some support with exchange data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 11,111.25 crore on Thursday.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Oil retreats amid tariff worries: Oil prices were set for a third weekly gain as the U.S. ramped up pressure on Venezuela and Iran, though worries over whether Washington's tariff war could curb demand weighed on markets. 

RBI may cut rates by 25 bps in April: India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that the RBI's monetary policy committee is expected cut benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in its policy review meeting next month to push growth.

Rupee strengthens against US Dollar: Indian rupee appreciated against the US dollar, logging the best monthly gain in over six years, supported by a resurgence of foreign fund inflows.

Credit to industry grows 7.3% as on fortnight ended February 21: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report has showed that credit to industry recorded a growth of 7.3 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended February 21, 2025, compared with 8.4 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year.

Weak global cues: European markets were trading lower amid signs that U.S. President Donald Trump could be intensifying a broader trade war that could damage growth worldwide. Asian markets settled down on Friday as investors held to the sidelines, awaiting cues from the release of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge later in the day and the U.S. reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 191.51 points or 0.25% to 77,414.92, and the CNX Nifty was down by 72.60 points or 0.31% to 23,519.35.  

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 77,766.70 and 77,185.62 respectively. There were 11 stocks advancing against 19 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.68%, while Small cap index was down by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 0.67%, Bankex up by 0.36% and Oil & Gas up by 0.32%, while IT down by 1.77%, Realty down by 1.44%, TECK down by 1.39%, Utilities down by 1.08% and Auto down by 1.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.88%, Hindustan Unilever up by 1.01%, ICICI Bank up by 0.87%, Tata Motors up by 0.82% and Nestle up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.57%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.45%, HCL Technologies down by 2.20%, Maruti Suzuki down by 2.10% and Infosys down by 2.07% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance in its press released has announced its finalised borrowing programme for the first half (H1) of FY 2025-26. The government has planned a Gross Market borrowing of Rs 14.82 lakh crore budgeted for FY 2025-26, of which Rs 8 lakh crore are to be borrowed in H1 through issuance of dated securities, including Rs 10,000 crore of Sovereign Green Bonds to fund environmental positive projects.

The government has planed to borrow Rs 8 lakh crore via 26 weekly auctions with market borrowing spreading over 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 30, 40 and 50-year securities. Meanwhile, the share of borrowing (including Sovereign Green Bonds) under different maturities will be 5.3% for 3-year maturity, 11.3% for 5-year maturity, 8.2% for 7-year maturity, 26.2% for 10-year maturity, 14% for 15-year maturity, 10.5% for 30-year maturity, 14% for 40-year maturity and 10.5% for 50-year maturity. Besides, the government will continue to reserve the right to exercise greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription of up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notifications.

The government will also issue Treasury Bills in the first quarter (Q1) of FY 2025-26 to borrowed Rs 19000 crore for 13 weeks with issuance of Rs 9,000 crore under 91-day T-bill, Rs 5,000 crore under 182-day T-bill and Rs 5,000 crore under 364-day T-bill. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has fixed the Ways and Mean Advances (WMA) limit for H1 of FY 2025-26 at Rs 1.50 lakh crore to take care of temporary mismatches in Government accounts.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 23,649.20 and 23,450.20. There were 19 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 2.91%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.13%, Apollo Hospital up by 1.88%, ONGC up by 1.79% and ICICI Bank up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.64%, Wipro down by 3.56%, Shriram Finance down by 3.28%, Cipla down by 2.83% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.63% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 3.44 points or 0.04% to 8,662.68, France’s CAC fell 46.93 points or 0.59% to 7,943.18 and Germany’s DAX lost 136.92 points or 0.6% to 22,541.82.

Asian markets settled down on Friday tracking Wall Street’s fall overnight on trade war jitters, while investors were awaiting cues from the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge later in the day and the US reciprocal tariffs set to take effect on April 2. Japanese shares declined on concerns that US President Donald Trump's tariffs could hit domestic production and auto sector jobs. Meanwhile, data showed Tokyo's inflation quickened to 2.9% in March from 2.8% in February, keeping the Bank of Japan on track for further interest rate hikes. Seoul shares declined sharply ahead of a meeting of top trade officials from South Korea, Japan and China this weekend to discuss economic cooperation amid increasing trade pressure from the United States.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,351.31

-22.44

-0.67

Hang Seng

23,426.60

-152.20

-0.65

Jakarta Composite

--

--

--

KLSE Composite

1,513.65

-22.08

-1.44

Nikkei 225

37,120.33

-679.64

-1.83

Straits Times

3,972.43

-9.14

-0.23

KOSPI Composite

2,557.98

-49.17

-1.92

Taiwan Weighted

21,602.89

-348.87

-1.61
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