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Sensex, Nifty trade higher in early deals; manufacturing PMI eyed
Apr-02-2025

Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-positive start on Wednesday following mixed cues from Asian counterparts as well as mixed close on Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious as uncertainty prevails over the size and the scope of new reciprocal tariffs on imports to the US to be announced later in the day. Soon, Sensex and Nifty gained traction and are trading higher in early deals as some traders pick up stocks at a bargain after heavy selling in the previous sessions and ahead of manufacturing PMI data to be out later in the day. Some optimism came as the government data showed Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in March grew 9.9 per cent to over Rs 1.96 lakh crore. 

Some support also came as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India is the fourth largest holder of foreign exchange reserves at $658.8 billion, enough for 11 months of imports. In stock specific development, Tech Mahindra traded higher as the company and CrateDB have entered into a strategic partnership at Hannover Messe 2025, the world’s premier trade fair for industrial technology.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76242.95, up by 218.44 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 76064.94 and 76498.82. There were 14 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.77%, TECK up by 0.51%, Bankex up by 0.44%, Auto up by 0.39% and IT up by 0.22%, while PSU down by 1.15%, Industrials down by 1.02%, Capital Goods down by 0.97%, Power down by 0.95% and Utilities down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 1.78%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.65%, ICICI Bank up by 1.44%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.24% and HDFC Bank up by 1.13%. On the flip side, Nestle down by 2.28%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.22%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.14%, Tata Motors down by 1.04% and Power Grid down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, dispelling concerns over the foreign exchange reserves and the current account deficit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India is the fourth largest country to hold foreign exchange reserves of $658.8 billion, enough to meet the country's imports for 11 months. India is the fourth largest nation in terms of foreign exchange reserves after China, Japan and Switzerland.

She said ‘I want to assure you that total foreign exchange reserves as of March 25, 2025, is $658.8 billion. We are the fourth largest in terms of foreign exchange reserves that any country holds. Which means the amount that we hold in foreign exchange reserve is good enough to take care of 11 months of our imports. Even though there has been a little fall in the foreign exchange reserve, today the position is that we are the fourth largest in terms of foreign exchange reserves that we hold’. 

On the depreciation of the rupee, Sitharaman said various domestic and global factors influence the exchange rate of the rupee (INR) against the US Dollar (USD), such as the movement of the Dollar Index, trend in capital flows, level of interest rates, movement in crude prices, current account deficit etc. she said since the commencement of the last quarter of the calendar year 2024, the rupee, along with other major Asian currencies, depreciated against the US dollar amid global uncertainties.

She added ‘US Dollar Index rose 3.7 per cent during October 1, 2024, to March 26, 2025, with all Asian currencies depreciating against the USD. The rupee has depreciated 2.2 per cent against the US dollar during this period, least among major Asian currencies’. Further, foreign portfolio investment (FPI) outflows of around $19.9 billion from Indian markets during October 1, 2024, to March 26, 2025, was also one of the contributory factors for the depreciation of INR against the USD.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23234.00, up by 68.30 points or 0.29% after trading in a range of 23158.45 and 23293.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 5.24%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.71%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.43%, Eicher Motors up by 1.38% and ICICI Bank up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 4.59%, Nestle down by 2.41%, JIO Financial Services down by 1.38%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.34% and Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 17.28 points or 0.05% to 35,641.76, Hang Seng advanced 15.72 points or 0.07% to 23,222.56 and Shanghai Composite was up by 7.97 points or 0.24% to 3,356.41. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted lost 9.06 points or 0.04% to 21,271.11, Straits Times fell 8.98 points or 0.23% to 3,959.87 and KOSPI was down by 7.52 points or 0.3% to 2,513.87.
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