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Key indices end lower amid profit-taking
Oct-24-2025

Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday amid profit-taking in Banking and Healthcare shares and fresh foreign fund outflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,165.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. Sentiment was further dampened after Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India does not do trade agreements in a hurry or with a ‘gun to our head’. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

India's private sector activity eases to five-month low in October: India’s flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data report has showed that private sector activity in India continued to increase sharply in October, but growth lost momentum amid a slowdown in the service economy. The HSBC Flash India Composite Output Index fell to 59.9 in October from 61.0 in September. 

India Inc's revenue likely to grown 5-6% on-year in July-September quarter: Crisil Intelligence, an arm of domestic rating agency Crisil, in its latest report has said that India Inc's revenue is likely to have grown a modest 5-6% on-year in the July-September quarter following underwhelming performance of the power, coal, information technology (IT) services and steel sectors. 

Talks between India, US for proposed trade agreement progressing: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that talks between India and the United States (US) for the proposed trade agreement are progressing, and expressed hope that both sides would work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future.

Digital payments account for 99.7% transactions by volume in 2024: Reserve Bank report said digital payment transactions accounted for 99.7 per cent in terms of volume and 97.5 per cent in value in the payments system during calendar year 2024, and the trend continued in the first half of 2025.

Global front: European markets were trading lower as earnings proved to be a mixed bag and investors braced for the release of delayed U.S. inflation figures for September. Asian markets ended mostly higher ahead of pivotal talks between the United States and China in Malaysia to avert trade war escalation. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 344.52 points or 0.41% to 84,211.88 and the CNX Nifty was down by 96.25 points or 0.37% to 25,795.15. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 84,707.44 and 83,957.15 respectively. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.   

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.19%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 1.02%, Telecom up by 1.01%, Oil & Gas up by 0.25%, Realty up by 0.24% and Energy up by 0.22%, while Bankex down by 0.77%, Healthcare down by 0.75%, FMCG down by 0.71%, Power down by 0.47% and Auto down by 0.45% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel up by 1.03%, ICICI Bank up by 0.88%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.84%, Sun Pharma up by 0.63% and ITC up by 0.30%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.20%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.92%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.72%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.65% and Titan Company down by 1.57% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that talks between India and the United States (US) for the proposed trade agreement are progressing, and expressed hope that both sides would work towards a fair and equitable agreement in the near future. An Indian official team, headed by Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal, was in Washington to hold trade talks with their US counterparts. The three-day talks ended on October 17, 2025. 

In February 2025, leaders of India and the US directed officials to negotiate a proposed Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). They have fixed a deadline to conclude the first tranche of the pact by the fall (October-November) of 2025. So far, five rounds of negotiations have been completed. Last month, Goyal also led an official delegation to New York for trade talks. These deliberations are important as the relations between the two countries have been reeling under severe stress after the Trump administration imposed a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods. It includes a 25 per cent additional import duty for buying Russian crude oil. India has described these duties as ‘unfair, unjustified and unreasonable’. 

The talks halted for a brief period after the US announced high tariffs on Indian goods. After a brief gap, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch held talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on September 16, 2025. In that meeting, both sides agreed to push for an early and mutually beneficial conclusion of the agreement. The proposed pact aims to more than double the bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,944.15 and 25,718.20 respectively. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.11%, ICICI Bank up by 1.05%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.00%, Shriram Finance up by 0.97% and ONGC up by 0.94%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 3.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 3.33%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 2.25%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.93% and Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.82% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 11.37 points or 0.12% to 9,567.20, France’s CAC fell 44.18 points or 0.54% to 8,181.60 and Germany’s DAX lost 21.39 points or 0.09% to 24,186.40.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Friday tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight after reports that US President Donald Trump confirmed plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, while a new round of negotiations aimed at resolving escalating trade tensions between the United States and China will also take place in Malaysia on October 24-27. Meanwhile, investors were awaiting the release of the delayed inflation report from the US later in the day for direction. Japanese shares gained amid expectations of new economic stimulus. Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama signalled that it may be necessary to issue additional debt to fund Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s upcoming economic package, if existing resources prove insufficient. Data showed Japan’s core inflation accelerated to 2.9% in September from 2.7% in August, though the Bank of Japan is still expected to keep interest rates unchanged next week. Seoul shares hit a new record high, led by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, whose combined market cap surpasses 1,000 trillion won. Chinese and Hong Kong shares rose after China outlined a new five-year strategy to strengthen technological self-reliance and boost domestic demand.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,950.31

27.90

0.71

Hang Seng

26,160.15

192.17

0.74

Jakarta Composite

8,271.72

-2.63

-0.03

KLSE Composite

1,613.27

5.27

0.33

Nikkei 225

49,299.65

658.04

1.35

Straits Times

4,422.21

5.94

0.13

KOSPI Composite

3,941.59

96.03

2.50

Taiwan Weighted

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