Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower in a range-bound trade on Tuesday (May 6, 2025) due to profit booking, mainly in banking and oil shares, and investors staying on the sideline amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

Snapping its two days of gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 155.77 points or 0.19% to settle at 80,641.07. During the day, it dropped 315.81 points or 0.39% to 80,481.03.

The NSE Nifty dipped 81.55 points or 0.33% to 24,379.60.

The trading activity was range bound ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision and concerns over U.S.-China trade negotiations, analysts said.

The Union Home Ministry has directed states and UTs to hold security mock drills in light of the rising Indo-Pak tensions after the Pahalgam terror attack.

Close to 300 ‘civil defence districts’ with sensitive installations like nuclear plants, military bases, refineries, and hydroelectric dams will be covered by mock drills on air-raid warning sirens, civilian training for a “hostile attack” and cleaning of bunkers and trenches.

Among Sensex firms, Eternal, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Adani Ports, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma were the major losers.

Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle and Maruti were among the gainers.

Also Read: Pahalgam terror attack LIVE: Union Home Secretary to review preparations for mock drills

“The domestic market has been consolidating in recent sessions following the strong recovery, driven by cautious sentiment amid India-Pakistan border tensions. Weak earnings growth for the current quarter has further impacted the market.

“Meanwhile, investors are closely monitoring India’s bilateral trade negotiations with the U.S. Additionally, speculation around the U.S. Federal Reserve is drawing attention, as no rate cuts are expected in the near term, affecting global trends,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

India’s service sector activity accelerated slightly in April largely driven by a quicker increase in new order inflows, which also underpinned a faster expansion in employment, according to a monthly survey on Tuesday (May 6, 2025).

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index reached 58.7 in April, up from 58.5 in March, indicating a sharp and stronger expansion in service sector output.

“Market volatility was further aggravated by escalating geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan, coupled with uncertainty surrounding the U.S. Federal Reserve’s upcoming interest rate decision,” Siddhartha Khemka, Head – Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said.

“Looking ahead, progress on the U.S. trade deal could provide near-term support to the markets, he said. However, ongoing geopolitical concerns and the earnings season are likely to keep investor sentiment cautious in the near term,” Mr. Khemka added.

The BSE smallcap gauge dropped 2.33% and midcap index declined 2.16%.

Among sectoral indices, realty tanked 3.49%, power (2.64%), services (2.53%), utilities (2.36%), industrials (2%), capital goods (1.71%) and consumer durables (1.59%).

Auto and tech were the only gainers.

In Asian markets, Shanghai’ SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled higher. South Korean and Japanese markets were closed due to holidays.

Markets in Europe were trading lower. U.S. markets ended in the negative territory on Monday (May 5, 2025).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹497.79 crore on Monday (May 5, 2025), according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.76% to $61.85 a barrel.

The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 294.85 points or 0.37% to settle at 80,796.84 on Monday (May 5, 2025). The Nifty rose by 114.45 points or 0.47% to 24,461.15.

IBM also announced in April that over the next five years, it would invest $150 billion in the United States [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

IBM on Tuesday made a play for more sales in the crowded artificial intelligence field, touting tools that could help customers manage a fleet of AI agents for their key business applications.

In an interview, Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said he saw an opening to provide software that integrates customers’ AI agents from other providers — among them Salesforce, Workday and Adobe — and lets them build their own agents for untapped use cases, with IBM’s help.

“We help our clients integrate. We want to meet them where they are,” he said, ahead of IBM’s annual Think conference sessions on Tuesday.

IBM’s tools to help customers create their own agents, a process it said would take under five minutes, draw on the IBM Granite family of AI models, as well as alternatives from Meta Platforms and Mistral, Krishna said.

Krishna said that customer interest in using different AI models for different tasks would build demand for IBM, which last month reported that it has built a $6 billion “book of business” on ChatGPT-like generative AI. A small cloud provider relative to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, IBM has tailored its tech to clients wanting multiple clouds or their own infrastructure to manage their data.

“All of these capabilities will only accelerate that rate of growth on those numbers,” he said of IBM’s new tools.

IBM also announced in April that over the next five years, it would invest $150 billion in the United States, where it has manufactured mainframe computers for more than 60 years. It will make quantum computers in the United States as well, Krishna said.

“Between mainframe, artificial intelligence and quantum computing, we think there’s going to be a very healthy market that behooves us to invest and lean in,” he said.

Krishna added that the technology focus and reduction in regulations from President Donald Trump’s administration would set the economy up for growth.