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Benchmarks end notably lower amid renewed selling by foreign investors
Oct-31-2025

Indian equity benchmarks ended notably lower for second straight session on Friday as renewed foreign investor selling overshadowed upbeat corporate earnings. Markets started the session marginally in red tracking weak global cues amid renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates. But, soon markets recovered and entered in green terrain. Though, the recovery proved to be short-levied and markets slipped below neutral lines amid concerns over renewed selling by foreign investors. In dying hours of trade, markets magnified their losses as investors avoided to take any long position ahead of macro-economic data and auto production numbers in the next week.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Foreign fund outflows: The fund outflows from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) weighed on trading sentiments. The FIIs were the net seller on Thursday’s session, offloading equities worth Rs 3,077.59 crore.

India’s engineering goods exports grow in September: Traders overlooked the EEPC’s statement that India’s engineering goods exports maintained a growth trajectory for the fourth consecutive month in September, with a 2.93 per cent rise year-on-year to $10.11 billion. 

China grants licences to Indian companies to import rare earth magnets: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that China granted licences to certain Indian companies to import rare earth magnets. 

Finance Minister visits Bhutan to strengthen India-Bhutan partnership: The finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has embarked on a four-day official visit to the neighbouring country with an aim of strengthening partnership with Bhutan. 

On global front: European markets were trading lower with investors reacting to regional inflation data, and recent earnings updates and central bank policy decisions. Asian markets ended mostly lower as Chinese and Hong Kong markets retreated after a survey showed China's factory activity shrank for a seventh month in October, while Japan's Nikkei hit a record high on the back of a weaker yen.

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 465.75 points or 0.55% to 83,938.71 and the CNX Nifty was down by 155.75 points or 0.60% to 25,722.10. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 84,712.79 and 83,905.66 respectively. There were 05 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.   

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.55%, while Small cap index was down by 0.40%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 0.41%, Industrials up by 0.36%, PSU up by 0.31%, Oil & Gas up by 0.24% and Energy up by 0.15%, while Utilities down by 1.28%, Metal down by 1.15%, Power down by 1.03%, Basic Materials down by 0.90% and Telecom down by 0.87% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 3.95%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.09%, TCS up by 0.73%, ITC up by 0.37% and SBI up by 0.31%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 3.52%, NTPC down by 2.39%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.57%, ICICI Bank down by 1.28% and Bajaj Finserv down by 1.25% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Ratings in its latest report has said that manufacturers of large appliances are likely to see their revenue growth moderate to 5-6% this fiscal (FY26) on a high base of 16% logged last fiscal, after demand for cooling products fell sharply because of the early onset of southwest monsoon in the first half. A reduction in goods and services tax (GST) on air-conditioners (ACs) and large televisions (TVs) that followed in early September, just as the festive season began, will offer only a partial offset.

As per the report, moderating revenue growth, along with intensifying competition and dearer raw materials, will also shave off 20-40 basis points (bps) from operating margins. This, however, is unlikely to deter companies from sustaining or stepping up capital expenditure (capex) across categories. Notably, the AC segment will see a substantially higher capex for compressor capacities as the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) norms on imports kick in from April 2026. Credit profiles will remain stable because of low dependence on debt.

The rating agency further noted that Moderating revenue growth and continuing intense competition will limit meaningful price hikes amid higher input costs such as steel (because of safeguard duty on imports) and aluminium and copper (due to growing demand- and supplyside pressures). Consequently, operating margin will reduce slightly to 7.1-7.2% this fiscal from 7.5% last fiscal.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,953.75 and 25,711.20 respectively. There were 09 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Bharat Electronics up by 3.95%, Eicher Motors up by 1.71%, Shriram Finance up by 1.44%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.09% and TCS up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 3.52%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 2.61%, Cipla down by 2.52%, NTPC down by 2.38% and Grasim Industries down by 1.99% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in red; UK’s FTSE 100 slipped 51.06 points or 0.52% to 9,709.00, France’s CAC fell 16.49 points or 0.20% to 8,140.80 and Germany’s DAX was down by 89.49 points or 0.37% to 24,029.40.

Asian markets settled mostly down on Friday tracking Wall Street’s fall from record highs overnight, despite the United States's trade truce with China and profits of Big Technology giants exceeding expectations. Chinese and Hong Kong shares fell after an official survey showed a measure of China's manufacturing activity contracted more than expected to hit a six-month low of 49.0 in October, down from 49.8 in September. However, Japan's Nikkei hit a record high on the back of a weaker yen, strong gains in the technology sector fueled by optimism over AI's potential and hopes for aggressive fiscal stimulus under the Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,954.79

-32.11

-0.81

Hang Seng

25,906.65

-376.04

-1.43

Jakarta Composite

8,163.88

-20.18

-0.25

KLSE Composite

1,609.15

-5.05

-0.31

Nikkei 225

52,411.34

1,085.73

2.12

Straits Times

4,428.62

-8.82

-0.20

KOSPI Composite

4,107.50

20.61

0.50

Taiwan Weighted

28,233.35

-54.18

-0.19
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