Market treads water amid global ripples; Nifty anchors at 24,800

Equity benchmarks ended slightly lower today, marking their second straight day of losses, as rising geopolitical tensions between Israel and Iran weighed on investor sentiment. Early gains fizzled out, dragged by nervousness around Middle East instability and oil price volatility. Amid the volatility, auto and consumer discretionary stocks bucked the trend, rising on optimism around a potential demand revival. The Nifty slipped below the 24,850 mark.

Attention now turns to the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy verdict due later tonight. With inflation risks looming, fueled by recent tariff threats, investors are betting the Fed might hold rates steady.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 138.64 points or 0.17% to 81,444.66. The Nifty 50 index fell 41.35 points or 0.17% to 24,812.05. In two consecutive sessions, the Sensex is down 0.43%, while the Nifty has shed 0.54%.

TCS (down 1.79%), Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (down 1.55%) and ICICI Bank (down 0.72%) were major drags.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.34% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.34%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1532 shares rose and 2448 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 0.88% to 14.28.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday approved the National Stock Exchange's (NSE) proposal to shift the weekly expiry day of its derivatives contracts from Thursday to Tuesday.

In a parallel move, SEBI has also approved a change for the BSE Sensex derivatives, with the weekly expiry now scheduled for Thursday instead of the current Tuesday. BSE's change in expiry day will come into effect as of September 1, 2025. Shares of BSE slipped 1.19% today following this notification.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.02% to 6.260 from the previous close of 6.259.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 86.4900 compared with its close of 86.3400 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 August 2025 settlement shed 0.15% to Rs 99,395.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was down 0.20% to 98.63.

The United States 10-year bond yield shed 0.30% to 4.377.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for August 2025 settlement fell 91 cents or 1.19% to $75.54 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European shares fell on Wednesday. U.K. inflation eased slightly to 3.4% in May, down from 3.5% in April, according to data released by the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics.

Sweden's central bank cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday to 2% amid weakening inflation but pointed to geopolitical risks ahead.

Asian shares ended mixed, as escalating tensions between Israel and Iran weighed on investor sentiment.

Adding fuel to the fire, U.S. President Donald Trump is mulling a military strike on Iran while demanding the country's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, surrender, media reports stated.

Japan's exports in May declined 1.7% year-on-year, which is lower than the decline of 3.8% that was widely anticipated by the markets.

The data comes a day after the Bank of Japan highlighted in its monetary policy statement that the country's growth was likely to 'moderate' on the back of factors like trade, which would lead to a slowdown in overseas economies and a decline in domestic corporate profits.

On Wall Street, all three major averages ended the trading day lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 299.29 points, or 0.70%, to close at 42,215.80. The S&P 500 shed 0.84% to end at 5,982.72, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.91% and settled at 19,521.09.

The key indices ended lower ahead of the US Federal Reserve's rate decision, which is due Wednesday afternoon. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to hold rates steady, but investors will be keeping a close eye on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments.

Traders are also watching for policymakers' forecasts on rate policy, as the Federal Open Market Committee will be sharing members' 'dot plot' of rate expectations.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Reliance Infrastructure soared 5% to hit the upper circuit at Rs 386.05 after its subsidiary, Reliance Aerostructure Limited (RAL), inked a milestone deal with French aerospace giant Dassault Aviation. Announced at the Paris Air Show, the partnership will see the two companies jointly manufacture Falcon 2000 business jets in India.

Indusind Bank rose 5.12% to Rs 850.60 after a global brokerage firm upgraded the stock to a Buy and hiked the target price from Rs 700 to Rs 1,050.

GMR Airports added 0.29%. The company reported a 0.8% year-on-year (YoY) increase in passenger traffic across all GMR airports, reaching over 10 million passengers in May 2025.

Optiemus Infracom soared 12% after the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Optiemus Electronics (OEL), has collaborated with OnePlus to locally manufacture and deliver premium Internet of Things (IoT) devices in India.

UGRO Capital shed 0.06% after the firm has informed that it will acquire 100% stake in Profectus Capital for Rs 1,400 crore in an all-cash deal, aiming to strengthen its position in the secured MSME lending segment.

Premier Explosives slipped 1.88%. The company announced that it has secured a purchase order worth Rs 1.73 crore from an international client for the supply of defence products.

Rajesh Power Services (RPSL) gained 1.61% after the firm has received orders worth Rs 60 crore from Gift Power Company for distribution & backup power system in SEZ Area & DTA Area of GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

DLF fell 0.51%. The company said that its latest luxury offering DLF Privana North, valued at approximately Rs 11,000 crore, has been sold within a one week of its launch.

Alembic Pharmaceuticals fell 1.47%. The company said that it has received the Establishment Inspection Report (EIR) from the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API)-III facility in Karakhadi, Gujarat.

IPO update:

The initial public offer (IPO) of Arisinfra Solutions received bids for 30,96,003 shares as against 1,30,84,656 shares on offer, according to stock exchange data at 16:40 IST on Wednesday (18 June 2025). The issue was subscribed 0.24 times.

The issue opened for bidding on Wednesday (18 June 2025) and it will close on Friday (20 June 2025). The price band of the IPO is fixed between Rs 210 and 222 per share. An investor can bid for a minimum of 67 equity shares and in multiples thereof.

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