Bourses trade at day’s high levels in early afternoon session

Indian equity markets traded at day’s high levels in early afternoon session as investors went for beaten down but fundamentally strong stocks. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with healthy gains. Investors were braced for RBI’s interest rate decision, which due on April 09.  The RBI is expected to reduce key interest rates by as much as 25 basis points this week. Traders took note of report that commerce ministry is stepping up efforts to help exporters explore new markets to push outbound shipments while also setting up a working group to monitor possible surge in imports from countries like China to tackle the impact of sweeping tariffs announced by the US. On the global front, Asian markets are trading mixed as some traders are picking up stocks at a huge bargain after a couple of sessions of extremely heavy losses. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74347.18, up by 1209.28 points or 1.65% after trading in a range of 73424.92 and 74427.07. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 1.70%, while Small cap index was up by 1.89%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 2.65%, Consumer Durables up by 2.50%, IT up by 2.46%, Telecom up by 2.18% and Healthcare was up by 2.07%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 4.06%, Infosys up by 3.55%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.83%, SBI up by 2.83% and Asian Paints up by 2.79%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, commerce ministry is stepping up efforts to help exporters explore new markets to push outbound shipments while also setting up a working group to monitor possible surge in imports from countries like China to tackle the impact of sweeping tariffs announced by the US. The ministry is also fast-tracking formulation of its export promotion mission to support exporters in areas such as providing credit at affordable rates; and negotiations of proposed free trade agreements with the European Union, Oman, New Zealand and the UK. 

Additionally, concerned officials have been directed to hold a series of bilateral meetings with the identified 20 countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, and France for pushing India's exports. These developments come at a time when exporters and industries have raised concerns that the additional 26 per cent import duty imposed by the US on India may hurt them. The identified 20 countries are Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkiye, UAE, UK, the US and Vietnam. Huge opportunities are there in these nations for Indian exporters.

The government is framing schemes for MSME exporters to provide credit at easy terms, promote alternate financing instruments through strengthening factoring services for them, and offer assistance to deal with nontariff measures imposed by other countries. The commerce, MSME and finance ministries are working on these schemes, which are being formulated under the export promotion mission, announced in the Union Budget for 202526. The government on February 1 announced the setting up of an Export Promotion Mission with an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore to promote the country's outbound shipments. Further concerns have been raised by the industry that countries like China may divert their surplus exports to India as Beijing is facing 54 per cent tariffs in the US.

In 202324, the US was the largest trading partner of India with $119.71 billion bilateral trade in goods ($77.51 billion worth of exports, $42.19 billion of imports and $35.31 billion trade surplus). China was the second largest trading partner with $118.39 billion two-way commerce ($16.65 billion exports and $101.73 billion imports and $85 billion trade deficit). The US accounts for about 18 per cent of India's total goods exports and 6.22 per cent in imports and 10.73 per cent in bilateral trade. On the other hand, China's share is just about 4 per cent in exports and a staggering 15 per cent in imports. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22550.65, up by 389.05 points or 1.76% after trading in a range of 22270.85 and 22577.55. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 4.23%, Shriram Finance up by 4.23%, Infosys up by 3.65%, Eicher Motors up by 3.09% and Grasim Industries up by 2.95%. On the flip side, Trent down by 0.48% and Hindalco down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mixed; Nikkei 225 surged 1876 points or 5.68% to 33,012.58, Hang Seng advanced 174.81 points or 0.88% to 20,003.11, Shanghai Composite strengthened 35.11 points or 1.13% to 3,131.69 and KOSPI was up by 6.03 points or 0.26% to 2,334.23. On the flip side, Straits Times fell 40.62 points or 1.15% to 3,499.88, Jakarta Composite plunged 479.48 points or 7.36% to 6,031.14 and Taiwan Weighted was down by 772.4 points or 4.18% to 18,459.95.