Stock markets break 7-day rally to end lower; HUL drops 4 pc post-earnings
Mumbai, Apr 24 (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty reversed their seven-day uptrend and settled lower on Thursday amid profit-taking and disappointing fourth quarter earnings of Hindustan Unilever.
Selling in blue-chips ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel and a largely muted trend in Asian and European equities also dragged the markets down.
The 30-share BSE benchmark declined 315.06 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 79,801.43. During the day, it dropped 391.94 points or 0.48 per cent to 79,724.55.
The NSE Nifty went down by 82.25 points or 0.34 per cent to 24,246.70.
In the past seven trading days, the BSE benchmark gauge zoomed 6,269.34 points or 8.48 per cent and the Nifty jumped 1,929.8 points or 8.61 per cent.
From the Sensex firms, FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) dropped 4 per cent after the firm reported a decline of 3.35 per cent in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,475 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2025, hit by lower margins.
Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Consultancy Services and Bajaj Finance were also among the laggards.
Nestle India Ltd on Thursday reported a 6.5 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 873.46 crore for March quarter of FY25 as the FMCG industry faced food inflation and moderation in urban consumption.
IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, Titan and Asian Paints were among the gainers.
"The domestic market witnessed mild profit-booking after the recent rally. Similarly, global markets too experienced selling pressure as the market participants scaled back the possibility of a quick resolution of tariff disputes between the US and China.
"FMCG majors' Q4 results were weak, impacted by subdued volumes and margin pressure, which led the sector to underperform," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
According to Bajaj Broking Research, "Benchmark indices snapped their seven-day winning streak, ending slightly lower. The Nifty opened on a subdued note and traded within a narrow range throughout the day, maintaining a corrective bias,"
The BSE midcap gauge declined 0.16 per cent and smallcap index dipped 0.01 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty dropped 1.39 per cent, FMCG (0.82 per cent), teck (0.59 per cent), financial services (0.40 per cent), consumer discretionary (0.33 per cent), BSE Focused IT (0.24 per cent) and power (0.22 per cent).
BSE commodities, healthcare, metal and services were the gainers.
As many as 2,015 stocks declined while 1,920 advanced and 151 remained unchanged on the BSE.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled lower while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Shanghai SSE Composite ended in the positive territory.
European markets were quoting lower.
US markets ended sharply higher on Wednesday. Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.50 per cent, S&P 500 surged 1.67 per cent and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.07 per cent.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.03 per cent to USD 66.10 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,332.93 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The BSE benchmark jumped 520.90 points or 0.65 per cent to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18, on Wednesday. The Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67 per cent to 24,328.95.
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President Trump in 'freefall', says fan-turned-critic podcaster Alex Jones
'Advises' Republicans to stay away from Trump while campaigning for midterm polls
Washington DC: Podcaster Alex Jones has reportedly claimed in his programme, 'The Alex Jones Show', that US President Donald Trump was in 'freefall', suggesting that it was best for Republican candidates to distance themselves from the President while campaigning for the upcoming midterm polls.
According to US media agencies, Jones, who was identified as a strong supporter of the President during his first term but a major critic of Trump in the recent months. He has reportedly criticized all of Trump's moves, from the attacks on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the President's health, not to mention the government's handling of the documents relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On the Tuesday edition of his show, Jones was found to be all the more vehement in his criticism of Trump, and was heard opining that the President looked sick. “When your ankles swell up three times the size they were before, that means heart failure. And he does look sick. And he does babble and, you know, sound like the brain’s not doing too hot,” said Jones. “And so we just cut bait on Trump, and we just mobilize against the Democrats.”
The podcaster also spoke about his father’s decline due to dementia, adding that Trump too was deteriorating in a similar manner and advising the President to take a holiday.
“Not the man he was that last year. And that– we need to be sad about Trump. This is not funny. This is not good. But he’s gone. And that’s it,” said Jones. “And all the people rallied around him, you can see, [Pete] Hegseth’s freaked out. You can see, the press secretary’s freaked out. They’re being loyal. They think it’s a lesser of two evils. And I, okay, but I just– Trump needs intervention. He needs to take some time off.”
Referring to the approval rate of merely 33 per cent for the President during the new election from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the podcaster pointed out that Trump's popularity had fallen from 56 per cent and advised Republicans to keep away from Trump.
As reported by The Independent, the White House firmly denied in an official statement that Jones' claim that the President's health condition was waning.
“This is a complete b****t story that’s being desperately told to boost podcast views,” spokesperson Davis Ingle said. “The truth is that President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health.”
The post Alex Jones Says It’s Time to ‘Cut Bait on Trump’ Because the President ‘Is in Free Fall’ is reported to have first appeared on Mediaite.
