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Key gauges end higher for third straight day
Apr-16-2025

Defying a weak global market trend, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the third straight day on Wednesday, following buying in blue-chip banking stocks and fresh foreign fund inflows as retail inflation slipping to near six-year lows raised hopes of further rate cuts.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade: 

Foreign investors stage comeback: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned net buyers of Indian equities on Tuesday after nine sessions as they mopped up stocks worth Rs 6,065.78 crore. FIIs last turned net buyers on March 27, where they bought equities worth Rs 11,111.25 crore, highest single-day buying so far in 2025.  

Update on a normal monsoon: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted an above normal monsoon in 2025, which quantitatively could be 105 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA). This is the second year running when the IMD has predicted an “above normal” monsoon. 

Easing retail inflation: Retail inflation dipped marginally to a nearly six-year low of 3.34 per cent in March due to a decline in prices of vegetables and protein-rich items. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 3.61 per cent in February and 4.85 per cent in March last year. 

Rupee sustains rally for third straight session: Indian rupee sustained its rally for the third straight session and settled with gains against the US dollar, boosted by the renewed inflow of foreign funds and a weak American currency.

Negative global cues: European markets were trading lower as investors looked ahead to the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday, with markets widely expecting a 25-basis-point rate cut. Asian markets settled mostly lower as tariff worries persisted as China moved to halt Boeing purchases amid tariff tensions and U.S. President Donald Trump issued a pointed message, saying China should approach the U.S. for a trade deal to ease tariffs because it relies heavily on American consumers.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 309.40 points or 0.40% to 77,044.29, and the CNX Nifty was up by 108.65 points or 0.47% to 23,437.20.   

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 77,110.23 and 76,543.77 respectively. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.62%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.78%, Bankex up by 1.45%, Energy up by 1.25%, PSU up by 1.21% and Telecom up by 1.08%, while Auto down by 0.39%, Capital Goods down by 0.07% and IT down by 0.07% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 7.12%, Axis Bank up by 4.26%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.81%, Asian Paints up by 1.75% and Bharti Airtel up by 1.35%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.51%, Infosys down by 1.00%, Tata Motors down by 0.92%, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.90% and NTPC down by 0.88% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's merchandise exports, after four months of decline, turned positive and grew marginally by 0.7 per cent to $41.97 billion in March 2025 as compared to $ 41.69 billion in March 2024. Besides, merchandise imports increased by 11.3 per cent to $63.51 billion in March 2025 as compared to $57.03 billion in March 2024. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, widened to $21.54 billion in March 2025. The trade deficit in February 2025 was $14.05 billion. In March 2024, it stood at $15.33 billion. 

According to the data, merchandise exports during FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $437.42 billion as compared to $437.07 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March). Merchandise imports during FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $720.24 billion as compared to $678.21 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March). Merchandise trade deficit during FY 2024-25 (April-March) was $282.83 billion as compared to $241.14 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March).

It further said non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in March 2025 were $34.17 billion compared to $33.66 billion in March 2024. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $344.26 billion as compared to $320.21 billion in FY 2023-24 (April-March). Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in March 2025 were $37.76 billion as compared to $35.85 billion in March 2024. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $453.62 billion, as compared to $424.67 billion in FY 2023-24 (April-March).

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 23,452.20 and 23,273.05. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.   

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 6.74%, Axis Bank up by 4.33%, ONGC up by 3.50%, Trent up by 3.38% and Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.04%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.60%, Hindalco down by 1.29%, Tata Motors down by 0.98%, Infosys down by 0.97% and NTPC down by 0.87% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 28.73 points or 0.35% to 8,220.39, France’s CAC fell 38.91 points or 0.53% to 7,296.49 and Germany’s DAX lost 99.75 points or 0.47% to 21,153.95.

Asian markets settled mostly lower on Wednesday tracking Wall Street's fall overnight and on fears of escalating US-China trade tensions. In response to an inquiry about the White House's statement claiming China now faces up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the US as a result of its retaliatory actions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian responded that they should ask the US side for the specific tax rate figures. Market sentiments fell further even as China's first-quarter GDP growth surpassed expectations at 5.4%. Hong Kong Post suspended goods mail services by sea to the United States and will suspend its air mail postal service for items containing goods from April 27 due to bullying US tariffs. Japanese shares fell sharply, with technology shares coming under pressure after chipmaker Nvidia said the US put new restrictions on some chip exports to China. Moreover, Seoul shares declined following US's decision to restrict Nvidia's artificial intelligence chip exports to China. 

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,276.00

8.34

0.25

Hang Seng

21,056.98

-409.29

-1.94

Jakarta Composite

6,400.05

-41.63

-0.65

KLSE Composite

1,476.92

-9.51

-0.64

Nikkei 225

33,920.40

-347.14

-1.02

Straits Times

3,662.45

37.73

1.03

KOSPI Composite

2,447.43

-29.98

-1.22

Taiwan Weighted

19,468.00

-389.67

-2.00
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