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Key gauges snap 3-day decline on Wednesday
May-21-2025

Snapping a three-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks settled higher after a roller-coaster session on Wednesday, driven by gains in Capital Goods, Realty and Industrials stocks and a firm trend in Asian peers. However, the domestic benchmarks retreated from day’s high levels amid concerns over rising Covid-19 cases in some Asian regions and foreign fund outflows.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

EPFO adds 14.58 lakh members in March 2025: The Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional payroll data’ report has showed that 14.58 lakh net members have been added in the month of March 2025, an increase of 1.15% compared to March 2024.

Govt working on amendments to insolvency law: The government is planning to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to streamline the resolution process. A key change involves Section 31(4), potentially removing the requirement for bidders to secure CCI approval before submitting resolution plans to the Committee of Creditors (CoC). 

Persistent foreign fund outflows: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling streak for the second straight session on Tuesday, offloading equities worth Rs 10,016 crore - their steepest single-day selloff in over two months (Feb 28), according to provisional NSE data.

Output of eight key infrastructure sectors slows down to eight-month low of 0.5% in April: The Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest data has showed that the output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to an eight-month low of 0.5 per cent in April 2025 due to contraction in the production of crude oil, refinery products and fertiliser. 

Global front: European markets were trading lower amid concerns over an impasse in Russia-Ukraine peace talks, a lack of progress in trade negotiations, and data showing an acceleration in British consumer price inflation in the month of April. Asian markets settled mostly higher even after Japan's exports grew at a slower pace in April largely due to the higher tariffs imposed by the US administration. Exports climbed 2.0 percent on a yearly basis in April, slower than the 4.0 percent increase in March.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 410.19 points or 0.51% to 81,596.63 and the CNX Nifty was up by 129.55 points or 0.52% to 24,813.45.    

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,021.64 and 81,237.06 respectively. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index. 

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.90%, while Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.65%, Realty up by 1.58%, Industrials up by 1.35%, Telecom up by 1.24% and PSU up by 1.07%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.64% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.02%, Tata Steel up by 1.86%, Sun Pharma up by 1.57%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.39% and Bajaj Finance up by 1.36%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.39%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.77%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.62%, ITC down by 0.44% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.42% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional payroll data’ report has showed that 14.58 lakh net members have been added in the month of March 2025, an increase of 1.15% compared to March 2024. This growth signifies increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives.

As per the payroll data, EPFO enrolled around 7.54 lakh new subscribers in March 2025, representing a 2.03% increase over February 2025 and 0.98% year over year growth compared to the previous year in March 2024. The data report further noted that around 2.08 lakh new female subscribers joined EPFO in March 2025, an increase of 0.18% compared to the previous month of February 2025. It also depicts year-over-year growth of 4.18% compared to March 2024.

State-wise, the top five states/ UTs constitute around 59.67% of net payroll addition, adding a total around 8.70 lakh net payroll during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20.24% of net payroll during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana individually added more than 5% of the total net payroll during the month.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,946.20 and 24,685.35. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 5.26%, Tata Steel up by 1.93%, Cipla up by 1.83%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.47% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.46%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 1.98%, JSW Steel down by 1.07%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.84%, Grasim Industries down by 0.65% and Coal India down by 0.65% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 10.35 points or 0.12% to 8,770.77, France’s CAC fell 58.56 points or 0.74% to 7,883.86 and Germany’s DAX lost 108.7 points or 0.45% to 23,927.41.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday, with Chinese market settling higher as private report said that it raised China GDP forecast to 4.5% for this year, citing easing trade tensions. However, markets were remaining under pressure from rising Treasury yields due to US debt load and tax-cut bill concerns following Moody’s downgrade of the country’s sovereign credit rating. Japanese markets underperformed as the yen continued to strengthen on BoJ interest rate hike bets and data showed Japan's export growth continued to decelerate for the second consecutive month, while tariff-related uncertainty also weighed on sentiments.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,387.57

7.09

0.21

Hang Seng

23,827.78

146.30

0.61

Jakarta Composite

7,142.46

47.86

0.67

KLSE Composite

1,544.80

-4.07

-0.26

Nikkei 225

37,298.98

-230.51

-0.62

Straits Times

3,882.55

0.05

0.00

KOSPI Composite

2,625.58

23.78

0.91

Taiwan Weighted

21,803.91

277.88

1.27
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