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Bourses trade near neutral lines in early afternoon session
Apr-16-2025

In a volatile trading session, Indian equity markets traded near neutral lines with a positive bias in early afternoon session ahead of weekly F&O expiry due on tomorrow.  Markets traded with limited gains despite commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's merchandise exports, after four months of decline, turned positive and grew marginally by 0.7 per cent to $41.97 billion in March 2025 as compared to $ 41.69 billion in March 2024. Besides, India's retail inflation declined marginally to 3.34% in March, reaching its lowest level in nearly six years, driven by falling prices of vegetables and protein-rich food items. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red even after China's Gross domestic product grew 5.4 percent year-on-year. Quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew 1.2 percent in the first quarter but weaker than the expected growth of 1.4 percent. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76760.94, up by 26.05 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 76543.77 and 77000.63. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.56%, while Small cap index up by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.03%, PSU up by 0.99%, Bankex up by 0.82%, Energy up by 0.72% and Telecom was up by 0.65%, while Auto down by 0.45%, Metal down by 0.33% and IT was down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 5.56%, Axis Bank up by 3.52%, Asian Paints up by 1.05%, ITC up by 0.88% and SBI up by 0.64%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.75%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.12%, Tata Motors down by 0.76%, Sun Pharma down by 0.66% and Tata Steel down by 0.51% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's merchandise exports, after four months of decline, turned positive and grew marginally by 0.7 per cent to $41.97 billion in March 2025 as compared to $ 41.69 billion in March 2024. Besides, merchandise imports increased by 11.3 per cent to $63.51 billion in March 2025 as compared to $57.03 billion in March 2024. The trade deficit, or the gap between imports and exports, widened to $21.54 billion in March 2025. The trade deficit in February 2025 was $14.05 billion. In March 2024, it stood at $15.33 billion. 

According to the data, merchandise exports during FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $437.42 billion as compared to $437.07 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March). Merchandise imports during FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $720.24 billion as compared to $678.21 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March). Merchandise trade deficit during FY 2024-25 (April-March) was $282.83 billion as compared to $241.14 billion during FY 2023-24 (April-March).

It further said non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in March 2025 were $34.17 billion compared to $33.66 billion in March 2024. Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $344.26 billion as compared to $320.21 billion in FY 2023-24 (April-March). Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in March 2025 were $37.76 billion as compared to $35.85 billion in March 2024. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in FY 2024-25 (April-March) were $453.62 billion, as compared to $424.67 billion in FY 2023-24 (April-March). 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23352.65, up by 24.10 points or 0.10% after trading in a range of 23273.05 and 23372.75. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 5.63%, Axis Bank up by 3.61%, Trent up by 2.11%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.88% and ONGC up by 1.64%. On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.80%, Hindalco down by 1.55%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.23%, Shriram Finance down by 1.06% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.05% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 480.99 points or 2.24% to 20,985.28, Taiwan Weighted lost 389.67 points or 2% to 19,468.00, Nikkei 225 slipped 347.14 points or 1.02% to 33,920.40, KOSPI dropped 29.98 points or 1.22% to 2,447.43, Jakarta Composite plunged 21.64 points or 0.34% to 6,420.04 and Shanghai Composite was down by 13.52 points or 0.41% to 3,254.14. On the flip side, Straits Times was up by 9.19 points or 0.25% to 3,633.91.
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