Tale of the Tape 

Hola Amigos!

Markets were at their boring best. Nifty and Sensex ended with minor gains after mostly trading sideways in a narrow range. Thankfully, Midcaps (+0.7%) and Smallcaps (+0.8%) looked lively. The advance-decline ratio was in favour of the bulls (3:2).

Except Real Estate (-0.7%), all other sectors ended in the green. Oil & Gas (+0.7%) and Metals (+0.6%) saw the most buying.

India Inc’s promoters are cashing out BIG TIME. Read our top story on why their stake sales should worry you.

Where to invest in this uncertain global macro environment? Check out Axis Securities's top stock recommendations below.

Sun Pharma Advanced Research hit a -20% lower circuit. Meanwhile, PI Industries was up +4% on some good news. More details below.

Railway stocks zoomed on a bunch of recent order wins. PS - Ircon International (+14%) was the top NSE 500 gainer.

Bharti Airtel was up +2% after Macquarie said its bull case sees the stock touching Rs 2,350 p/sh; +25% upside from current levels.

Block deal reactions. Aditya Birla Fashion (-10%) was the top NSE 500 loser after 6.23% equity (7.6 cr shares) changed hands; Flipkart was the likely seller.  Indegene fell -4% after 2.53 cr shares, or 10.56% equity, changed hands; Carlyle was the likely seller. 

Reliance Infra jumped +11% after an appeals tribunal suspended the NCLT order that admitted it into insolvency.

Market
Quit While You’re Ahead?

Promoters are hitting the exit door like there’s no tomorrow! FYI - promoter ownership in NSE-listed firms hit 50.1% in Q4FY25, a seven-quarter low. This was led by across-the-board selling by private Indian promoters, foreign investors and the GOI. In May 2025, we saw over Rs 58,000-cr in block deals and OFS transactions, the highest since August 2024 which was just before markets hit a peak.

So… should you be worried? The answer is complex because there’s different types of selling:

1) Clearly signalled: Two of the biggest recent deals were BAT selling a ~2.5% stake in ITC and Rakesh Gangwal’s reduction in IndiGo. We’ve known about these forever, it's an ongoing process and not much to do with the current market.

2) Panic or unannounced: Wendt India crashed after its German parent said it was FULLY pulling out of the company. The stock shows no signs of recovering. These kinds of deals can hint at darker implications. FYI - market expert Sandip Sabharwal says be wary when it happens in a midcap or smallcap stock especially! 

There are other red flags too. Normally, block deals are discounted to help find liquidity aka buyers. But if the discount is too high, it’s a sign that investors think their company has hit peak valuation. This doesn’t have to be limited to promoters either.  For example: Aditya Birla Fashion crashed -10% today after Flipkart exited at a ~7% discount!

TL;DR: Promoter selling needs to be viewed within the stock’s bigger picture. It’s a potential red flag, but owners aren’t omniscient either. Never forget how Whirlpool of India rallied +40% after its owner reduced their stake in February 2024!