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Benchmarks continue to trade lower in late afternoon session
May-30-2025

Benchmarks continued to trade lower in late afternoon session, tracking weak cues from Asian peers. The choppy trade prevailed as traders took a cautious stance ahead of the release of Q4 GDP data and Foreign Exchange Reserves figures. Meanwhile, losses remained capped as NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery said that the size of the Indian economy in the purchasing power parity (PPP) term is already $15 trillion, which is more than half the size of the US economy. Besides, sustained buying from FIIs have raised optimism in the domestic markets.

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading lower due to uncertainty surrounding a court battle about U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and rising concerns about U.S. economic stability. European equity markets were trading higher amid rising hopes of European Central Bank’s (ECB) rate cut after Spanish inflation fell below the European Central Bank's 2 percent target in May and inflation data from a slew of German states signaled weakening inflationary pressures.

Back home, significant strength has been seen in gold loan NBFCs like Manappuram Finance and Muthoot Finance after finance ministry recommended important revisions to the RBI’s draft directions on lending against gold collateral and has urged RBI to postpone implementation.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 81515.11, down by 117.91 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 81286.45 and 81698.21. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index slumped 0.25%, while Small cap index was up by 0.23%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.89%, Industrials up by 0.45%, Bankex up by 0.27%, Power up by 0.26% and PSU up by 0.12%, while Metal down by 1.48%, Basic Materials down by 0.97%, Oil & Gas down by 0.75%, Auto down by 0.72% and IT down by 0.72% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 3.29%, SBI up by 1.81%, HDFC Bank up by 0.75%, Larsen & Toubro up by 0.57% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.22%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 1.30%, Tata Steel down by 1.29%, NTPC down by 1.24%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.20% and Infosys down by 1.18% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a team of US officials is visiting India next week for discussions on the proposed interim trade agreement between the two countries. The visit gains importance as India and the US are likely to agree on an interim trade agreement by the end of June, with New Delhi pushing for full exemption from the 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on domestic goods.

India’s chief negotiator, Special Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, concluded his four-day visit to Washington last week. He held talks with his US counterpart on the proposed agreement. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was also in Washington last week to give an impetus to trade talks. He met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick twice during his visit.

The US on April 2 imposed an additional 26 per cent reciprocal tariff on Indian goods, but later suspended it for 90 days till July 9. However, Indian goods still attract the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed by America. Both countries have fixed a deadline to conclude the first phase of the proposed bilateral trade agreement pact by fall (September-October) of this year. 

The US remained India’s largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25, with bilateral trade valued at $131.84 billion. The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India’s total goods exports, 6.22 per cent in imports, and 10.73 per cent in the country’s total merchandise trade. With America, India had a trade surplus (the difference between imports and exports) of $41.18 billion in goods in 2024-25. It was $35.32 billion in 2023-24, $27.7 billion in 2022-23, $32.85 billion in 2021-22 and $22.73 billion in 2020-21. The US has raised concerns over this widening trade deficit. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24780.20, down by 53.40 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 24717.40 and 24863.95. There were 10 stocks advancing against 40 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 2.93%, SBI up by 1.63%, HDFC Bank up by 0.76%, Cipla up by 0.66% and Larsen & Toubro up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Bajaj Auto down by 2.50%, Hindalco down by 2.24%, Shriram Finance down by 1.61%, Tata Steel down by 1.35% and Asian Paints down by 1.24% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading lower; Hang Seng declined 283.61 points or 1.22% to 23,289.77, KOSPI dropped 22.97 points or 0.85% to 2,697.67, Nikkei 225 slipped 467.88 points or 1.23% to 37,965.10, Straits Times fell 11.49 points or 0.29% to 3,905.35 and Shanghai Composite weakened 15.96 points or 0.48% to 3,347.49.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 45.82 points or 0.52% to 8,762.27, France’s CAC rose 14.02 points or 0.18% to 7,793.74 and Germany’s DAX gained 178.11 points or 0.74% to 24,111.34.

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