Key gauges extend gains in morning deals

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in morning deals, led by gains in PSU, Energy and Banking stocks. Traders took support with Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi’s statement that India's exports are bound to grow in the coming years despite uncertainties over global trade and tariff. Sarangi said that exporters should tread the path pragmatically and wisely to navigate the current global trade contours. Traders took a note of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's statement that India and the US are holding ‘very active’ and ‘intense’ discussions on trade, as the world waits with anxiety over US President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariff that will kick in on April 2, 2025. He said there is a strong ‘business case’ for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) between the two countries. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed after President Donald Trump imposed a 25% tariff on US auto imports, prompting investors to pare bets on riskier investments due to concerns about growth in the world’s largest economy. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77699.23, up by 410.73 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 77082.51 and 77747.46. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.03%, while Small cap index was up by 0.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.90%, Energy up by 0.71%, Bankex up by 0.69%, Oil & Gas up by 0.66% and IT up by 0.61%, while Auto down by 0.81%, Healthcare down by 0.63% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 1.99%, Infosys up by 1.23%, HDFC Bank up by 1.11%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.05% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.85%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.35%, Sun Pharma down by 1.38%, Asian Paints down by 0.50%, Indusind Bank down by 0.46% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.22% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi has said that India's exports are bound to grow in the coming years despite uncertainties over global trade and tariff. Sarangi said that exporters should tread the path pragmatically and wisely to navigate the current global trade contours. US President Donald Trump has imposed reciprocal tariffs or import duties on countries like China and has pledged to impose these levies on India also on April 2. Certain exporters have raised concerns that imposition of duties by the US on sectors like engineering and pharma will hurt shipments to America, which is the largest trading partner of India.

Further, Sarangi said that the current scenario presents a golden opportunity for India to do a variety of things which will propel exports and increase manufacturing competitiveness. He said that in the current year, India's exports in goods and services will cross $800 billion. Last year it was $778 billion. He stated ‘While we see a temporary blip in exports (in the recent) months, in the longer run, our exporting communities have been giving us an impression that the number of order enquiries which they are receiving is fairly positive and that gives me the confidence that our exports will increase vis-a-vis our current levels.’

He added that steps like production linked incentive schemes to promote ease of doing business and boost domestic manufacturing are helping the domestic industry. India's goods exports dipped for the fourth consecutive month by 10.85 per cent to $36.91 billion in February. It was $395.63 billion during April-February this fiscal. Services exports during the period are estimated at $354.90 billion.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23613.65, up by 126.80 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 23412.20 and 23620.55. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 2.32%, Larsen & Toubro up by 1.95%, Shriram Finance up by 1.55%, Wipro up by 1.46% and Trent up by 1.42%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.37%, Sun Pharma down by 1.53%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.08%, Indusind Bank down by 0.49% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 246.01 points or 1.04% to 23,729.33, Straits Times rose 15.7 points or 0.4% to 3,979.41, Jakarta Composite gained 12.46 points or 0.19% to 6,484.82 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 10.49 points or 0.31% to 3,379.19.

On the flip side, Nikkei 225 slipped 306.7 points or 0.81% to 37,720.59, Taiwan Weighted lost 313.13 points or 1.41% to 21,947.16 and KOSPI dropped 27.10 points or 1.02% to 2,616.84.