Market wrap, April 25: Indices fall for second day; NIFTY50 ends at 24,039, SENSEX falls 589 pts amid geopolitical tensions; IT stocks rally

The Indian stock market on Friday, April 25, extended losses for the second consecutive session as investors remained concerned amid geopolitical tensions. Weakening broader market also dampened the sentiment.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 79,212.53, falling 588.90 points, or 0.74%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 24,039.35, declining 207.35 points, or 0.86%.

For the week, the Indian market posted gains of nearly 1%. Decline seen on the last two trading sessions brought down the weekly gains. This week, nearly 30 out of 50 NIFTY50 stocks gave positive returns.

The market breadth remained in favour of declines as 2,428 stocks slipped on the NSE out of 2,947 traded.

The broader market underperformed as both the midcap and smallcap gauges tumbled almost 2.5%.

Except for the IT sector on the NSE, all the other sectoral indices settled with losses.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹8,250.53 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Globally, the US stocks ended higher on Thursday, rallying for a third straight day as investors watched for signs of progress in the US-China tariff war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 486.83 points, or 1.23%, to 40,093.40, the S&P 500 was up 108.91 points, or 2.03%, to 5,484.77, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 457.99 points, or 2.74%, to 17,166.04.

Following this, Asian markets were higher on Friday, driven by hopes for the Federal Reserve to cut rates.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 1.9% to 35,705.74, and the Kospi in South Korea gained 0.9% to 2,546.15. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.7% to 22,056.39, while the Shanghai Composite Index inched down 0.1% to 3,295.78.

As many as 2,947 stocks traded on the NSE on Friday. Out of this, 2,428 declined, and only 455 stocks advanced, while 64 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 25 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 19 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 53 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 146 touched their lower circuit bands on Friday.

NSE-listed firms market capitalisation stood at ₹419.21 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX soared 5.58% to 17.16 levels.

The NIFTY Midcap 100 index tanked 2.55% to 53,570.20 levels, while the NIFTY Smallcap 100 index ended the session at 16,547.20, declining 2.45%.

Except for NIFTY IT (0.72%), all the sectoral indices closed in red. NIFTY Media (-3.24%), NIFTY Realty (-2.80%), NIFTY Pharma (-2.24%), NIFTY PSU Bank (-2.24%) and NIFTY Metal (-2.10%) were the top losers.

Shriram Finance was the biggest losing stock on the NIFTY50 index, plunging 8.13%. Adani Enterprises (-3.95%), Adani Ports (-3.79%), Trent (-3.75%) and Eternal (-3.67%) were the other top losers on the index.

On the other side, SBI Life Insurance (5.15%), Tech Mahindra (1.02%), Tata Consultancy Services (0.95%), Infosys (0.58%) and UltraTech Cement (0.25%) were the most gaining stocks on the 50-share index.

The company reported a 6% increase in consolidated net profit to ₹2,143.77 crore in Q4 FY25, compared to ₹2,021.28 crore in the year-ago period.

At close, shares of Shriram Finance settled at ₹640 apiece on NSE, falling 8.13%.

At close, shares of the firm settled at ₹1,691 apiece on NSE, rising 5.15%.

The company on Thursday reported a marginal increase in profit after tax (PAT) to ₹813.5 crore for the three months ending March 2025.

The insurer had posted a PAT of ₹811 crore in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal year.

At close, shares of the firm ended at ₹1,460 apiece on NSE, rising 1.02%.

Tech Mahindra’s consolidated net profit increased 76.51% year-on-year to ₹1,166.7 crore in the March quarter of FY25, compared to the ₹661 crore reported in the same quarter year-ago period.

During the quarter, the company’s revenue from operations stood at ₹13,384 crore, jumping 3.98% YoY from ₹12,871.3 crore in the corresponding period last year.