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Informist, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025

By Akshita Kumar

MUMBAI – The benchmark indices are seen lower Thursday due to the monthly expiry of the futures contract of the Nifty 50, analysts said. The volatility in the market is expected to continue due to the uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump's tariff policies and outflows from foreign institutional investors. The Indian stock market will be closed Wednesday on account of Maha Shivratri.

Lower-than-expected corporate earnings, a slowdown in urban consumption, and global uncertainty regarding US tariffs are some of the main concerns among domestic investors, Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research (investment services) at Anand Rathi Share & Stock Brokers, said. The outflows from foreign institutional investors are also affecting the sentiment, he said.

Solanki expects the FIIs to come back only when companies post good earnings. Corporate earnings are expected to be better from the first quarter of the next financial year due to the recent move in the Union Budget to boost consumption, he said. For long-term advisors, he said now is a good time to start building positions.

The Indian market is the third-most expensive market in the world and due to this FIIs have started going to China as it is a relatively cheaper market, Anshul Jain, head of research at Lakshmishree Investments, said.

Tuesday, the Nifty 50 closed at 22547.55 points, down 5.80 points, while the BSE Sensex ended at 74602.12 points, up 147.71 points or 0.2%. The resistance for the 50 stock index is seen at 22650-22700 points and the support is seen at 22400 points for the next two-three days, Jain of Lakshmishree Investments said. Jain expects the mid-cap and small-cap stocks to fall another 10% till April as the sentiment is weak in the broader market space.

Oil marketing companies are expected to face headwinds in the near-term due to softer refining margins and continuing liquified petroleum gas under-recoveries, brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher said in a research report. Gross margins on petrol and diesel have moderated, which could lead to reduced marketing margins in the March quarter. The brokerage said the under-recoveries in LPG will continue to persist, which will further impact the blended marketing margins. The brokerage anticipates a weak March quarter for oil marketing companies.

As the government improves its spending to make up for the lower spending through the fiscal year, the cement industry's volume is expected to improve, brokerage Elara Securities said. This coupled with the benefits of operating leverage and a steady rise in cement prices since December may help a sequential recovery in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation per tonne in the March quarter for the industry, the brokerage said.

Among stocks, shares of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories will be in focus Thursday after the company announced, after market hours, that it received an establishment inspection report from the US Food and Drug Administration for its active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing unit in Hyderabad. The drug regulator tagged this unit as voluntary action indicated on concluding the inspection.

On the data front, the consumer confidence index for the US for February will released later in the day. The new residential sales from the US for January will be released on Wednesday.  End

Edited by Saji George Titus

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