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Informist, Thursday, Mar. 20, 2025

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – Benchmark equity indices rose for the fourth consecutive day and closed sharply higher Thursday. The indices were lifted by sharp gains in index heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, and Reliance Industries. Market sentiment was boosted after the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed the two interest rate cuts in 2025 despite increasing inflation forecasts, analysts said. The market has now already priced in all negatives including the impact of US tariffs on imports from India, they said.

The Nifty 50 closed at 23190.65 points, up 283.05 points or 1.2%. The Nifty 50 hit a one-month high of 23216.70 points. The 50-stock index has gained 793.45 points or 3.5% in the last four trading sessions. The BSE Sensex also closed higher at 76348.06 points, up 899.01 points or 1.2%.

Among Nifty 50 stocks, Bharti Airtel rose the most and ended 4.2% higher. Shares of Titan Co. and Britannia Industries closed higher by 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively. In the 50-stock index, only four stocks--Shriram Finance, Trent, Bajaj Finance, and IndusInd Bank--closed lower.

The Federal Open Market Committee Thursday kept the key interest rate at 4.25-4.50% as expected, after delivering a total trim of 100 basis points in the current cycle that started September. The committee also revised the GDP growth projections of the US for 2025 downwards by 40 bps to 1.7% from 2.1% growth projected in December. The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell noted that uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased and that there had been a moderation in consumer spending. Despite the uncertainty, Fed officials continued to guide for only 50 basis points of rate cuts in 2025.

The US Fed increased the inflation forecast but retained their view on delivering two interest rate cuts in 2025, as it thinks that the growth in inflation would not be so much that it would have to change its policy stance, said Rahul Jain, vice president – research at Dolat Capital. Information technology stocks, which had been under pressure in recent times, rose sharply following these positive overnight developments in the US. The Nifty IT index closed 1.3% higher. All stocks in this index, except Persistent Systems, closed higher. Shares of Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and LTIMindtree closed 1.3-1.9% higher.

Shares of wire and cable makers fell sharply Thursday after Adani Enterprises said its subsidiary set up a joint venture company to foray into the cable business. The joint venture, Praneetha Ecocables, will manufacture and market metal products, cables, and wires. However, there is a lack of clarity about the amount of capital expenditure the company will invest in this joint venture, and, hence, it is too early to judge the impact on the industry, a research analyst tracking the sector at a domestic brokerage said.

Shares of KEI Industries closed 13% lower after briefly hitting a 15% lower band. This stock declined the most in the cable and wire pack, and was the worst hit Nifty 500 constituent. Shares of Polycab India, Finolex Cables, and Havells India closed 3.6-6.5% lower.

The Nifty Oil & Gas gained the most among sectoral indices and closed 1.6% higher. Gains in Reliance Industries, which has a 36.6% weightage in the sectoral index, contributed most to the rise of the sectoral index. Other sectoral indices Nifty Infrastructure, Nifty Auto, and Nifty FMCG also closed 1.3-1.5% higher.

Coming to the broader market, the mid- and small-cap indices underperformed the benchmark indices. Some analysts are of the view that investors must opt for a stock-specific approach as there are still some stocks in the broader market with expensive valuations.

Among individual stocks, Paytm's parent company, One97 Communications, snapped a three-day winning run and closed 3.8% lower after Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved INR 15 billion for 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) under an incentive scheme which promotes low-value Bharat Interface for Money-Unified Payments Interface, or BHIM-UPI, transactions, for small merchants. This was half the outlay of INR 26 billion for FY23 under the scheme.

Shares of Zee Entertainment Enterprises came off highs and closed 2.3% higher after media reports said brokerage CLSA expects its stock price to double in the next 12-24 months. The broking firm retained its 'outperform' rating on the stock with a target price of INR 170.

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 46 rose and 4 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 28 rose and 2 fell

* On the NSE, 1,759 stocks rose, 1,143 fell, and 79 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 2,410 stocks rose, 1,606 fell, and 129 were unchanged

* Nifty Oil & Gas: up 1.6%; Nifty Infrastructure: up 1.5%; Nifty PSU Bank: up 0.4%

BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 76348.06, up 899.01 points or 1.2%        Nifty 50: 23190.65, up 283.05 points or 1.2%

End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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