PROMISING | Favourable macros hold the key; RBI MPC meet outcome in focus

Economic news from the US are not promising. US ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.5 in May 2025 from 48.7 in April, marking the third consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector

FPJ News Service mumbai

Market sentiment remained upbeat for the second day in succession on Thursday driven by strong domestic macro fundamentals.

Mirroring the uptrend, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed 443.79 points higher at 81,442.04. The NSE Nifty rose 130.70 points at 24,750.90. “Though profit booking remains evident at higher levels, the benchmark indices are attempting to recover their momentum amid consolidation. With a weakening dollar index and volatile US bond yields, FIIs are turning net buyers again after the recent selloffs in anticipation of final trade negotiations.

Despite global uncertainty, strong indicators of economic and corporate earnings growth are encouraging investors to adopt a buy-on-dip strategy. Moreover, markets are attentively awaiting upcoming central bank decisions, with a 25-bps rate cut anticipated from both the RBI,” Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments, said.

Economic news from the US are not promising. US ISM Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.5 in May 2025 from 48.7 in April, marking the third consecutive month of contraction in the manufacturing sector and the sharpest decline since November 2024.

Crude oil prices hovered steady after producer group OPEC+ kept output increases in July at the same level as the previous two months. OPEC+ brought forth another big increase of 411,000 barrels per day for July as it looks to wrestle back market share and punish over-producers. The International Energy Agency said economic headwinds combined with record sales of electric vehicles will reduce global oil demand growth to 650,000 barrels per day for the remainder of 2025.

“Both geopolitical and economic news are likely to weigh on markets in the near-term. The US 10-year bond yield has declined to 4.36%. This will turn out to be good for EMs like India in the medium term, but the spike in uncertainty will keep the market within the present range for the near-term. Buy on dips continues to be the ideal strategy now,” Dr VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investments, said.

Eternal stock jumped 4.50%, followed by Power Grid, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, ITC and Hindustan Unilever were also among the winners.  In contrast, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were among the losers. DIIs bought equities worth Rs 2,382.40 crore and FIIs sold equities worth -208.47 crore. US liquefied natural gas exports fell in May due to plant outages and maintenance at the country's largest export facility. The US exported 8.9 million metric tonnes of LNG in May, down from a record 9.3 metric tonnes in April.