In an early sign of market turnaround, seven of the 13 most popularly tracked Nifty sectoral indices have managed to deliver positive returns year-to-date in FY25.
Topping the table Nifty Financial Services index has delivered a return of 8 per cent with the index growing closing at 23,136 points on Friday against 20,989 points at the start of the fiscal.
Nifty 50 has been sluggish throughout the fiscal due to various external reasons, including geopolitical challenges and slowing Indian economy. While the index has rebounded in the last four trading sessions, it had slumped nearly 14 per cent from its all-time high of 26,277 points logged last September amid persistent foreign outflows and global trade worries, delivering an overall return of just one per cent till date this fiscal.
Despite the volatility in recent times due to rupee depreciation and Trump tariff tantrums, global brokerages remain optimistic on Indian stock markets, with Citi Research forecasting a recovery to 26,000 levels by the end of 2025, implying a 15 per cent upside from current Nifty levels.
Nifty IT, Nifty Healthcare and Nifty Metals have registered a growth of 8 per cent each. The Nifty IT index showed resilience despite ongoing global trade tariff hikes. The December quarter earnings season highlighted resilience of large-cap IT companies with strong growth in margins.
Strong deal flow
“We remain positive on the sector, anticipating favourable US macro and strong deal flow momentum to drive growth in the near term and the Gen AI-led opportunity over medium to long-term,” said Nuvama Institutional Equities.
Despite the recent correction after 25 per cent tariff announced by the US on all steel and aluminium imported, the Nifty Metal index has also shown relative resilience.
Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta and Hindustan Zinc have emerged as top two performers in Nifty Metal and delivered TSR (total shareholders return) of 80 per cent and 57 per cent, driven by robust Q3 financial and operational performances and healthy dividend payout. Hindustan Zinc’s nine-month net profit was up 28 per cent to ₹7,350 crore driven by highest-ever refined metal production and the lowest cost of production in the past 15 quarters at $1,041 a tonne in December quarter.