Market Recovery Fails to Sustain as Indices Close Below Key Threshold

Indian Equity Markets Remain Under Pressure Amid Geopolitical Tensions and Rising Oil Prices

The Indian equity markets continued to face selling pressure on April 30, weighed down by rising geopolitical tensions and a spike in Brent crude prices to wartime highs. The benchmarks opened lower, tracking weak global cues, and extended selling dragged the Nifty below the 23,800 mark amid broad-based selling across sectors.

Market Performance

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Despite selective buying at lower levels, the market pared some of the intraday losses. The Sensex closed at 76,913.50, down 582.86 points or 0.75 percent, while the Nifty ended at 23,997.55, down 180.1 points or 0.74 percent.

Broader Market Performance

The Nifty midcap index shed 1 percent, and the smallcap index fell 0.5 percent. The market will remain shut on May 1 on account of Maharashtra Day.

Currency Market

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On the currency front, India's rupee weakened further to a fresh record low of 95.33 per dollar, intraday, breaching its previous low of 95.12 hit in late March. However, it ended marginally lower at 94.92 per dollar versus the previous close of 94.85.

Sectoral Performance

Except for the IT sector, all other sectoral indices ended in the red, with the Metal index declining 2 percent, and PSU Bank, Private Bank, Consumer Durables, and Realty down 1 percent each. Top Nifty losers included Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Hindalco Industries, Eternal, HUL, and Axis Bank, while gainers were Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance.

Stock-Specific Performance

Bajaj Finance shares rose 1 percent after the company reported a strong operational performance, while RPG Life Sciences rose 13 percent despite a sharp decline in profitability. On the downside, Force Motors shares slipped 5 percent as its Q4 consolidated profit dropped 35.9 percent, and HEG Limited declined more than 9 percent after its consolidated loss widened.

Outlook for May 4

Nilesh Jain, VP-Head of Technical and Derivative Research at Centrum Finverse, expects the Nifty index to stage a sharp rebound after opening with a gap down and ending marginally below the 24,000 mark. The index found strong support at its 21-DMA, placed around 23,800, and as long as it holds above this level, the pullback is likely to continue. The immediate resistance is seen at the 50-DMA near 24,140; a decisive breakout above this could pave the way for an upside move towards 24,500.

Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking, noted that the markets remained volatile on Thursday and declined over half a percent amid adverse global cues. The Nifty opened gap-down and came under pressure in the early hours; however, a rebound in select heavyweights across sectors helped trim losses as the session progressed. It eventually settled at 23,997.55, down 0.74 percent.

The sell-off was broad-based, with several sectors ending in the red—led by metals, realty, and FMCG—while IT showed relative strength. Broader markets also mirrored the weakness, with midcap and smallcap indices declining around 0.4–0.8%, indicating widespread risk aversion.