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Bourses remain under selling pressure in early afternoon session
Apr-30-2026

Indian markets continued to trade under selling pressure in early afternoon session amid ongoing conflict between U.S and Iran. Besides, rising crude oil prices also pressurized the markets to trade lower. Traders took a note of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) report stating that bank credit growth in India slowed to 14.88 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the fortnight ended April 15, 2026 as compared to 15.96 per cent growth recorded in the previous fortnight ending March 31, 2026. Bank credit stood at Rs 214 lakh crore in the fortnight ended April 15, down from Rs 218 lakh crore in the preceding fortnight. Meanwhile, Finance Ministry in its Monthly Economic Review for April has said that the conflict in West Asia could disrupt supply and increase risks to inflation, trade, and financial flows.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as Japan's consumer sentiment weakened further in April to the lowest level in one year. The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index dropped to 32.2 in April from 33.3 in March.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76656.21, down by 840.15 points or 1.08% after trading in a range of 76258.86 and 77014.21. There were 5 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The only gaining sectoral index on the BSE was IT up by 0.25%, while Metal down by 2.09%, Auto down by 1.82%, Consumer discretionary down by 1.67%, Realty down by 1.62% and Basic Materials was down by 1.55% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.72%, Infosys up by 0.78%, HCL Tech up by 0.26%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.19% and Tech Mahindra up by 0.14%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 3.62%, Interglobe Aviation down by 2.68%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.68%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.65% and Axis Bank down by 2.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed amendments to vehicle emission rules to enable flex-fuel and pure biofuel vehicles across all vehicle categories. The ministry has proposed amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, aimed at providing wider use of fuels, such as E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol with petrol) and E100 (which would allow vehicles to run on nearly pure ethanol), as well as B100 biodiesel and hydrogen-CNG combinations. India has already achieved 20% blending of ethanol (produced from biomass like sugarcane, corn or rice) with petrol to create a cleaner-burning fuel, reducing reliance on imported crude oil and cutting carbon emissions.

Among key proposals, the draft raises the vehicle weight limit from 3,000 kg to 3,500 kg, bringing regulation in sync with global standards for light commercial vehicles. This will lead to more vans, pickups, and small trucks falling under the same emission testing rules. It recognises fuels with higher blends of renewable biofuels - E20 (20% ethanol blended petrol), E85 (85% ethanol), E100 (100% ethanol) and B100 (100% biodiesel). Until now, the rules mostly spoke about E10 and E20. This amendment opens the regulatory door for flex-fuel vehicles and pure biofuel vehicles across all vehicle categories - two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, and heavy vehicles.

The Ministry noted that the changes would be taken up after a 30-day public consultation period, during which stakeholders can submit objections or suggestions. Meanwhile, it has updated fuel definitions and standards, including replacing references to ‘Hydrogen+CN’ with ‘Hydrogen+CNG’. It corrected specific emission intensity metric measuring the mass of pollutant (in milligrams) emitted per unit of energy produced to ‘mg/kWh’ from earlier ‘Mg/kWh’. Further, the World-Harmonised not-to-exceed (WNTE) emission limit has been corrected from ‘60’ to ‘600’. WNTE is a global methodology that limits heavy-duty engine emissions during real-world, in-use operation, rather than just in a laboratory. It sets a maximum permissible level for NOx and PM emissions across a broad range of engine speeds, loads, and ambient temperatures.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23911.60, down by 266.05 points or 1.10% after trading in a range of 23796.85 and 24019.15. There were 9 stocks advancing against 41 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.77%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.76%, Infosys up by 0.86%, Coal India up by 0.80% and Wipro up by 0.36%. On the flip side, Tata Motors Passenger down by 3.83%, Eternal down by 3.63%, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.93%, Interglobe Aviation down by 2.72% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 2.63% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 762.46 points or 1.29% to 59,155.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 376.87 points or 0.97% to 38,926.63, Hang Seng declined 332.84 points or 1.27% to 25,779.00, Jakarta Composite plunged 213.83 points or 3.01% to 6,887.40 and KOSPI was down by 92.03 points or 1.39% to 6,598.87. On the flip side, Shanghai Composite strengthened 4.65 points or 0.11% to 4,112.16 and Straits Times was up by 34.22 points or 0.7% to 4,895.19.
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