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Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 19, 2025

 

By Gopika Balasubramanium

 

MUMBAI – Indian equity indices closed higher Wednesday, extending their rise to the third consecutive session. Though the sentiment has improved from the previous days, the recent rise cannot be seen as a recovery yet, analysts said. There is still uncertainty in the market about US President Donald Trump imposing reciprocal tariffs on Indian imports and its impact on Indian companies, they said. Separately, foreign institutional investors turned net buyers of Indian equities Tuesday after 17 straight sessions of selling, data showed.

 

The gains in the market are likely to be short-lived and a recovery can only be seen after addressing the 'elephant in the room', that is the US tariffs, Alok C. Churiwala, managing director at Churiwala Securities, said. There is no concrete picture on the extent of duties that Trump will levy on imports from India, and till then it would be better if investors stay in a wait-and-watch mode, he said. Further, valuations look 'compulsive' for large-caps, Churiwala said, adding that "one cannot paint mid- and small-cap stocks with a single brush" and it is better to take a stock-specific approach.

 

The Nifty 50 closed 0.3% higher at 22907.60 points on Wednesday after hitting a one-month high of 22940.70 points during the session. With this, the 50-stock index has gained 510 points this week. The BSE Sensex closed at 75449.05 points, up 141.79 points, or 0.2%. Broader market indices outperformed the benchmark ones for the third consecutive day.

 

Shriram Finance, HDFC Life Insurance, and Apollo Hospitals gained the most among Nifty 50 stocks and closed nearly 3-4% higher. Information technology stocks fell the most. Shares of Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were the worst hit in the Nifty 50 and closed down 2.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Barring Wipro and L&T Technology Services, which closed up 0.8-1.7%, shares of all the other companies in the Nifty IT index closed lower.

 

The fall in the share price of IT companies followed the cautious view on the sector by foreign brokerage firm Citi citing macroeconomic data from the US. The brokerage also noted that the valuation of the Nifty IT index is high even though it has declined 16% so far in 2025, according to media reports. The brokerage also said that it would not be easy for information technology companies to improve their margins in such a competitive environment despite a depreciating rupee, reports said. Citi upgraded Mphasis to 'neutral' from 'sell' and said it continues to prefer HCL Technologies and Infosys over their large-cap peers.

 

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Realty, the Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Energy gained the most and closed 1.8-2.8% higher. The Nifty FMCG ended 0.6% down and was the second worst-hit sectoral index after Nifty IT.

 

CRISIL Ratings Wednesday said that the fast-moving consumer goods sector will likely see a 6-8% growth in revenue in 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) on the back of volume growth. This is higher than the 5-6% revenue growth expected for the current financial year. CRISIL said traditional FMCG companies will target the acquisition of direct-to-consumer brands, increase the adoption of digital channels, and introduce more packs and products with lower prices to support their volume growth. In the near-term, input prices, monsoon, and utilisation of higher disposable incomes by households post the announcement of income tax cuts in the Budget will be key things to be monitored, CRISIL said. 

 

Shares of metal companies gained after the commerce ministry recommended a 12% safeguard duty on imports of steel products for 200 days to prevent the Indian steel industry from serious injury after a recent jump in imports. This comes days after the US imposed a 25% duty on all its steel and aluminium imports, which came into effect last Wednesday. Shares of Tata Steel and JSW Steel closed 2.6% and 1.5% higher, respectively. Morgan Stanley and CLSA said the proposed safeguard duties are positive for Tata Steel and JSW Steel, according to media reports. Morgan Stanley said domestic hot rolled coil steel prices may rise by INR 2,000 per tonne, according to the reports.

 

However, Shrikant Chouhan, head of research at Kotak Securities, said domestic prices are at a 7-8% premium to import parity and there was little room for further hikes even after safeguard duty. Domestic flat steel prices have increased 5% in the last month due to widely anticipated safeguard duty, he said. In the past few weeks, Vietnam, South Korea, Europe and the US have either imposed or increased tariff barriers against steel imports, whereas investigations are ongoing in some countries, he said.

 

Margins on steel had bottomed out in the December quarter and a recovery can be expected in the March quarter, Chouhan said, adding that margins may improve with price hikes and muted costs. He finds better risk-reward in non-integrated steel producers such as Jindal Stainless and Jindal Steel & Power and remains cautious on integrated producers such as Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel, and NMDC. 

 

Among automobile companies, shares of Hero MotoCorp ended nearly 1% lower after media reports said four senior executives, including those handling key operations such as the electric mobility business and human resources, had resigned in recent weeks. Shares of most sugar companies extended gains for the second straight session after data showed oil companies met the 18% blending target for the ethanol supply year 2024-25 (Nov-Oct). Ethanol, which is derived from sugarcane, is used to blend with petrol to help reduce carbon monoxide emissions and is considered environment-friendly. Shares of Sakthi Sugar and Balrampur Chini Mills closed 8.4% and 7.2% higher, respectively.

 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 32 rose and 18 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 17 rose and 13 fell

* On the NSE, 2,345 stocks rose, 568 fell, and 77 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 3,018 stocks rose, 1,033 fell, and 115 were unchanged

* Nifty Realty: up 2.8%; Nifty PSU Bank: up 2%; Nifty IT: down 1.1%

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BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 75449.05, up 147.79 points or 0.2%        Nifty 50: 22907.60, up 73.30 points or 0.3%

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S&P BSE Sensitive Index	Nifty 50
Lifetime High: 85978.25 (Sept. 27, 2024)	: Lifetime High: 26277.35 (Sept. 27, 2024)
Record Close High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26, 2024)	: Record Close High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26, 2024)
2025 1st day close: 78507.41 (Jan. 1)	: 2025 1st day close: 23742.90 (Jan. 1)
2025 Closing High: 79943.71 (Jan. 2)	: 2025 Closing High: 24188.65 (Jan. 2)
2025 Closing Low: 72989.93 (Mar. 4)	: 2025 Closing Low: 22082.65 (Mar. 4)
2025 High (intraday): 80072.99 (Jan. 3)	: 2025 High (intraday): 24226.70 (Jan. 2)
2025 Low (intraday): 72633.54 (Mar. 4)	: 2025 Low (intraday): 21964.60 (Mar. 4)
2024 1st day close: 72271.94 (Jan. 1)	: 2024 1st day close: 21741.90 (Jan. 1)
2024 Closing High: 85836.12 (Sept. 26)	: 2024 Closing High: 26216.05 (Sept. 26)
2024 Closing Low: 70370.55 (Jan. 23)	: 2024 Closing Low: 21238.80 (Jan. 23)
2024 High (intraday): 85978.25 (Sep. 27)	: 2024 High (intraday): 26277.35 (Sept. 27)
2024 Low (intraday): 70001.60 (Jan. 24)	: 2024 Low (intraday): 21137.20 (Jan. 24)
2023 1st day close: 61167.79 (Jan. 2)	: 2023 1st day close: 18197.45 (Jan. 2)
2023 Closing High: 72410.38 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 Closing High: 21778.70 (Dec. 28)
2023 Closing Low: 59288.35 (Feb. 27)	: 2023 Closing Low: 17311.80 (Oct. 17)
2023 High (intraday): 72484.34 (Dec. 28)	: 2023 High (intraday): 21801.45 (Dec. 28)
2023 Low (intraday): 58699.20 (Jan. 30)	: 2023 Low (intraday): 17098.55 (Jan. 17)
2022 1st day close: 59183.22 (Jan. 3)	: 2022 1st day close: 17625.70 (Jan. 3)
2022 Closing High: 63284.19 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 Closing High: 18812.50 (Dec. 1)
2022 Closing Low: 51360.42 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Closing Low: 15293.50 (Jun. 17)
2022 High (intraday): 63583.07 (Dec. 1)	: 2022 High (intraday): 18887.60 (Dec. 1)
2022 Low (intraday): 50921.22 (Jun. 17)	: 2022 Low (intraday): 15183.40 (Jun. 17)
2021 Closing High: 61305.95 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 Closing High: 18338.55 (Oct. 14)
2021 Closing Low: 46285.77 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Closing Low: 13634.60 (Jan. 29)
2021 High (intraday): 61353.25 (Oct. 14)	: 2021 High (intraday): 18350.75 (Oct. 14)
2021 Low (intraday): 46160.46 (Jan. 29)	: 2021 Low (intraday): 13596.75 (Jan. 29)
2020 Closing High: 47751.33 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 Closing High: 13981.95 (Dec. 30)
2020 Closing Low: 25981.24 (Mar. 23)	: 2020 Closing Low: 7610.25 (Mar. 23)
2020 High (intraday): 47896.97 (Dec. 31)	: 2020 High (intraday): 14024.85 (Dec. 31)
2020 Low (intraday): 25638.90 (Mar. 24)	: 2020 Low (intraday): 7511.10 (Mar. 24)
2019 High (intraday): 41809.96 (Dec. 20)	: 2019 High (intraday): 12293.90 (Dec. 20)
2019 Low (intraday): 35287.16 (Feb. 19)	: 2019 Low (intraday): 10583.65 (Jan. 29)
2018 High (intraday): 38938.91(Aug. 28))	: 2018 High(intraday): 11760.20 (Aug. 28)
2018 Low (intraday): 32483.8 (Mar. 23)	: 2018 Low (intraday): 9951.9 (Mar. 23)
2017 High (intraday): 34005.37 (Dec. 26)	: 2017 High(intraday): 10515.10 (Dec. 26)

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End

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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