Indian benchmarks end lower as IT, metals outweigh growth boost
The Nifty 50 dipped 0.14% to 24,716.6, while the BSE Sensex fell 0.09% to 81,373.75.
On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to double tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50% from June 4, reigniting global trade concerns.
Metals and IT companies ended 0.7% lower and were the top sectoral losers by percentage.
Rising trade tensions could weigh on the U.S. economy and tech spending and delay rate cuts by the Federal Reserve amid worries of tariff-driven inflation.
Metal stocks dropped as much as 1.3% during the session but pared losses after India's steel minister estimated only a minor impact from Trump's tariff announcement on steel.
Vopak's Indian JV starts trading on Mumbai stock exchanges
The losses in both sectors outweighed gains fuelled by India's economy surging 7.4% in January to March, above a Reuters forecast of growth of 6.7%.
Despite upbeat economic growth, global trade turbulence has weighed on market sentiment, limiting any scope for a meaningful upside, said Ajit Mishra, senior vice president of research at Religare Broking.
Investors await the Reserve bank of India's policy decision on June 6, where the central bank is expected to cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
Rate-sensitive sectors gained on the day, with realty and state-owned lenders rising about 2.3% and 2.2%, respectively, and consumer stocks advancing 0.8%.
Among individual stocks, Mphasis fell 2.7% after a report of losing long-time client FedEx to Accenture.
While the blue-chips fell on Monday, the broader, more domestically focussed small-caps and mid-caps gained 1.2% and 0.6%.
They have gained 23.1% and 20.6% since the start of March, outperforming the Nifty 50's 11.7% rise, with Motilal Oswal analysts attributing the outperformance to unexpected earnings resilience in broader markets.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Dollar extends losses
NEW YORK: The dollar fell for a second straight session on Wednesday, a day after a US inflation reading increased expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next month, and renewed pressure from President Donald Trump for lower rates added to the sell-off. The dollar index, measuring the currency against a basket of peers, fell 0.2% to 97.81, its lowest since July 28, extending its 0.5% drop on Tuesday. US consumer prices increased marginally in July, data showed on Tuesday, in line with forecasts and as the pass-through from Trump's sweeping tariffs to goods prices has so far been limited. Investors priced in a 98% chance the central bank would ease rates next month, according to LSEG data. On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a 'series of rate cuts,' and said the Fed could kick off the policy rate easing with a 50 basis point cut. The day before, US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticised Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not easing rates sooner, had added to the pressure on the Fed. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that the president was considering a lawsuit against Powell in relation to his management of renovations at the central bank's Washington headquarters. 'I think there is quite significant pressure on the Fed from the political side of Washington to get moving on interest rates,' Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank, said. Michael Pfister, FX analyst at Commerzbank, said these political developments carried echoes of autocratic countries, where heads of statistics agencies or central banks are replaced and critical data series often discontinued or manipulated. 'I'm not saying that this will necessarily happen here. But the developments of the last few days and weeks do not exactly fill me with optimism about the future, or the US dollar,' Pfister said. Trump also hit out at Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, saying the bank had been wrong to predict US tariffs would hurt the economy. Trump questioned whether Solomon should lead the Wall Street institution. The dollar's weakness supported the euro and sterling. The single currency was last up 0.3% to $1.1705, briefly hitting its highest since July 28. Similarly, the British currency rose 0.5% to $1.3572, briefly hitting its highest since July 24. Britain's jobs market weakened again, though wage growth stayed strong, according to data on Tuesday, underscoring why the Bank of England is so cautious about cutting interest rates. The Australian dollar was up 0.3% to $0.6550, while the New Zealand dollar rose 0.5% to $0.5982. The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday cut interest rates as expected, and signalled further policy easing might be needed to meet its inflation and employment goals as the economy lost some momentum. In cryptocurrencies, ether scaled a nearly four-year high of $4,734.47.
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business Recorder
S&P 500, Nasdaq hover near record highs
NEW YORK: The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hovered near record highs on Wednesday as investors were increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve could restart its monetary policy easing cycle next month. Signs that US tariffs on imports have not fully filtered into headline consumer prices came as a relief for investors this week as they scour for insights on the impact trade uncertainty has had on the economy. Despite data showing underlying price pressures were on the rise, markets also factored in recent weakness in the job market and a shake-up at the Federal Reserve as they leaned in favor of a potential dovish move by the central bank in September. Traders are now fully pricing in a 25 basis points interest rate cut, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool, up from 89.2% last week. The central bank last lowered borrowing costs in December. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also said he thought an aggressive half-point cut was possible given recent weak employment numbers. Stagflation 'was the first word that came to my mind when I saw this CPI report yesterday,' said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide, referring to Tuesday's data coming on the heels of a number of other reports pointing to a cooling economy. 'The slowdown that we're seeing is probably fairly temporary, at least at this point. So inflation is something that we're absolutely worried about because we saw that uptick.' At 12:18 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 363.26 points, or 0.82%, to 44,821.52, the S&P 500 gained 9.34 points, or 0.15%, to 6,455.15 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 15.77 points, or 0.07%, to 21,697.97. The blue-chip Dow was within 1% away from an all-time high and the Russell 2000 index, which tracks rate-sensitive small-cap companies, added 0.1.3% to hit a six-month high. Investors were also taking notice of other sectors following the recent tech-led rally in US stocks that have pushed valuations of the S&P 500 above long-term averages. Healthcare stocks, which have been beaten down for much of the year, led gains among the 11 S&P 500 sectors with a 1.4% rise, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index was marginally lower. Later in the day, investors will scrutinize remarks of a number of policymakers, especially Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee. CoreWeave, which is backed by Nvidia, slumped 17.6% after the AI data center operator reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss. Eyes are also on developments surrounding the China revenue-sharing deal the US government signed with top chipmakers, which the White House said could be expanded to others in the sector. Paramount Skydance jumped 30%. The company won exclusive broadcasting rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years earlier this week. In geopolitics, traders also were keen on a meeting between Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict scheduled on Friday. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.96-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 131 new highs and 49 new lows.
Business Recorder
12 hours ago
- Business Recorder
S&P 500, Nasdaq rise to record highs on September rate cut hopes
The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hit record highs on Wednesday, underpinned by gains in megacap companies as investors were increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve could restart its monetary policy easing cycle next month. Signs that U.S. tariffs on imports have not fully filtered into headline consumer prices came as a relief for investors this week as they scour for insights on the impact trade uncertainty has had on the economy. Despite data showing underlying price pressures were on the rise, markets also factored in recent weakness in the job market and a shake-up at the Federal Reserve as they leaned in favor of a potential dovish move by the central bank in September. Traders are now fully pricing in a 25 basis points interest rate cut, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool, up from 89.2% last week. The central bank last lowered borrowing costs in December. 'We're pretty much certain that we'll have at least 25 basis points of rate cuts in the month of September,' said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC in NY, and noted that the Fed would have to respond to labor market weakness. At 09:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 379.32 points, or 0.86%, to 44,839.44, the S&P 500 gained 28.17 points, or 0.44%, to 6,474.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 84.32 points, or 0.39%, to 21,766.23. Ten of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were higher, led by consumer discretionary that gained 1.1%, with and Tesla up over 1.5% each. Wall St edges higher after inflation rises moderately in July The blue-chip Dow was less than 1% away from an all-time high and the Russell 2000 index, which tracks rate-sensitive small-cap companies, added 0.8% to hit a six-month high. 'Rates coming down will also help (small-cap companies) refinance their debt loads, which is very positive for a lot of the laggard stocks that haven't moved as much in this big move off the April lows,' Hayes said. The CBOE volatility index, popularly referred to as Wall Street's fear gauge, dropped to 14.46 - its lowest since January. Later in the day, investors will scrutinize remarks of a number of policymakers, especially Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee - a Federal Open Market Committee voting member this year. Earnings are also in focus. CoreWeave, which is backed by Nvidia, slumped 12% after the AI data center operator reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss. Eyes are also on developments surrounding the China revenue-sharing deal the U.S. government signed with chipmakers like Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, which the White House said could be expanded to others in the sector. Nvidia was flat, while Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.8%. Paramount Skydance jumped 19% and is up over 24% this week. The company won exclusive broadcasting rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years earlier this week. In geopolitics, Donald Trump and European leaders are expected to hold a virtual meeting on the Russo-Ukraine conflict, two days before the U.S. president meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.82-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 2.45-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P 500 posted 32 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 110 new highs and 36 new lows.
