Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets rebounded strongly on Thursday, with both the Nifty and Sensex garnering gains of around half a percent each. Markets started day on a weak note, mainly due to concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on imported automobiles. However, indices recovered from losses and remained higher till end of the day, amid foreign fund inflows. According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 2,240.55 crore on Wednesday. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

India's economic growth to Reach 6.5% in FY25: Some support came as the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance said that Indian economy is estimated to achieve a growth of 6.5 per cent in FY25 despite considerable external headwinds. 

India, Uganda hold third JTC meeting to boost ties: Ministry of Commerce and Industry has stated that the third Session of the India-Uganda Joint Trade Committee (JTC) took place and marked a renewed commitment to strengthening economic ties between the two nations after a 23-year gap. 

India, US in intense trade discussions: 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.

Global front: European markets were trading in red, amid concerns about the impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs. Asian markets ended mixed, after U.S. President Donald Trump said reciprocal duties that are set to be announced next week will be 'very lenient,' and that tariffs on China could be reduced to facilitate a deal on the sale of ByteDance Ltd.'s social video platform TikTok to an American company.

The BSE Sensex ended at 77606.43, up by 317.93 points or 0.41% after trading in a range of 77082.51 and 77747.46. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.46%, while Small cap index up by 0.90%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.09%, Realty up by 1.38%, PSU up by 1.36%, Oil & Gas up by 1.32% and Energy up by 1.22%, while Auto down by 0.99%, Telecom down by 0.05% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 2.94%, Indusind Bank up by 2.61%, NTPC up by 2.61%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.10% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 1.97%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.38%, Sun Pharma down by 1.42%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.06%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.95% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.87% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the 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 ended at 23591.95, up by 105.10 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 23412.20 and 23646.45. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hero MotoCorp up by 3.13%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.86%, Indusind Bank up by 2.78%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.18% and Tata Consumer Products up by 2.16%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 5.40%, Sun Pharma down by 1.40%, Eicher Motors down by 1.04%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.78% and Apollo Hospital down by 0.76% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; Germany’s DAX lost 196.97 points or 0.86% to 22,642.06, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 62.72 points or 0.72% to 8,626.87 and France’s CAC fell 44.19 points or 0.55% to 7,986.49.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday, despite Wall Street’s fall overnight on concern over the economic impact after the US President Donald Trump unveiled a 25% tariff on imported vehicles, expanding a global trade war and testing already strained ties with allies. Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong shares rose led by tech and auto shares. US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to reduce tariffs to get a deal done with TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans. Meanwhile, Chinese major industrial firms’ profits showed improvement in the first 2 months of 2025.