Key gauges extend gains for sixth consecutive session

Indian equity benchmarks extended their winning streak for the sixth consecutive session on Monday amid fresh foreign fund inflows and buying in PSU, Banking and Utilities shares. A positive trend in the US markets along with short covering ahead of monthly F&O expiry later this week, fuelled the rally in the domestic equities. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Renew optimism by foreign investors: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) staged a strong comeback, making their highest equity purchase of 2025 at Rs 7,470.36 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. This marked the third session of net buying by FIIs this week, reversing their selling trend. 

India's Agri growth rate to be 20% in 2 years: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that India's agricultural growth rate is expected to be 20 per cent in coming two years and the Centre's first priority is to make the sector economically viable and create more jobs.

Rupee appreciates against US dollar: Rising for the seventh straight session, the rupee appreciated against the US dollar on Monday, wiping off all its losses in 2025, supported by a positive trend in domestic equity markets and fresh foreign capital inflows.

India’s private sector output eases to 58.6 in March: The HSBC Flash India PMI report has said that India’s private sector output rose at a slower pace in March 2025 as compared to the previous month amid softer increase in services activity, as factory production rose at the quickest pace since July 2024. 

Global front: European markets were trading higher as flash survey results published by S&P Global revealed Germany's private sector grew at the fastest pace in ten months in March amid a robust rebound in manufacturing production. Asian markets ended mostly down on Monday as investors awaited clarity on the next round of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump set for April 2. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1078.87 points or 1.40% to 77,984.38, and the CNX Nifty was up by 307.95 points or 1.32% to 23,658.35.  

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 78,107.23 and 77,179.35 respectively. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.32%, while Small cap index was up by 1.17%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 2.84%, Bankex up by 2.53%, Utilities up by 2.42%, Power up by 2.31% and Industrials up by 2.00%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC up by 4.61%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.51%, SBI up by 3.77%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.54% and Power Grid Corporation up by 3.14%. On the flip side, Titan Company down by 2.68%, Indusind Bank down by 2.42%, Zomato down by 2.13%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.83% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.46% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, economic think tank - the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that the amendments in the customs rules to tighten checks on goods imported under free trade agreements (FTAs) could make it harder for businesses to do imports at concessional duties and may increase compliance cost. However, it said the move would curb the misuse of FTAs as India has seen repeated instances where goods originating from non-FTA countries, such as China, were rerouted through FTA member countries like Vietnam or Singapore to exploit preferential duty benefits.

On March 18, the Ministry of Finance issued a notification, introducing amendments to the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR). The amendment replaces the term, ‘Certificate of Origin’ (CoO), with a broader term, ‘Proof of Origin’, across various rules and forms under the CAROTAR framework. GTRI Founder Ajay Srivastava said ‘This change comes in conflict with the several existing FTAs with ASEAN etc where certificate of origin issued by the exporting country is the accepted document, and added the move could make it harder for businesses to do concessional tariff imports.

Srivastava said electronics, white goods, and auto components often shipped through ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) countries are likely to face heightened scrutiny. GTRI has urged the government to publish a detailed framework outlining what qualifies as acceptable proof of origin, and to provide redress mechanisms for importers facing unjustified denials of preferential tariff claims. It said that now importers would have to ensure access to comprehensive supporting documents that establish the origin of the goods, which is not always feasible, especially when exporters are reluctant to share sensitive trade data like raw material invoices or production costs.

It said ‘The compliance burden will increase, as there is no strict definition of what constitutes adequate proof. If not satisfied, Customs can deny preferential tariffs, effectively imposing full duties and penalties’. It added that importers may also be compelled to share sensitive commercial information, which not only raises privacy and confidentiality concerns, but may also subject them to arbitrary or inconsistent treatment.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 23,708.75 and 23,433.50. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.86%, NTPC up by 4.47%, SBI up by 3.69%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.60% and Power Grid Corporation up by 3.14%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 2.79%, Titan Company down by 2.74%, Trent down by 1.69%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.89% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.51% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 10.84 points or 0.13% to 8,657.63, France’s CAC rose 5.75 points or 0.07% to 8,048.70 and Germany’s DAX gained 82.79 points or 0.36% to 22,974.47.

Asian markets ended mostly down on Monday as investors awaited clarity on the next round of tariffs from the US President Donald Trump set for April 2. Japanese shares marginally fell after a survey showed Japanese business activity shrank for the first time in five months in March. Seoul shares declined after South Korea's Constitutional Court dismissed the impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and reinstated him as acting president, ruling the accusations against him weren't against the law or weren't serious enough to remove him from office. However, Chinese and Hong Kong shares gained amid signs of improving global sentiment towards China. The US President Donald Trump said his top trade chief, Jamieson Greer, plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart this week amid an escalating tariff war.