Benchmarks trade higher in early deals

Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-positive start and turned volatile on Tuesday amid mostly positive cues from Asian counterparts and sell-off on Wall Street overnight. Traders remain cautious and concerned about a global trade war while they await signs of progress from US President Donald Trump's trade talks. Some cautiousness came as the output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to 3.8 per cent in March, as against 6.3 per cent growth registered a year ago on account of moderate expansion in sectors like coal and crude oil.

However, indices managed to garner some gains and are trading higher in early deals. The continued inflow of funds from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) boosted market sentiments. FII continued their buying streak in the Indian markets pouring as much as Rs 1,970 crore on Monday. On the sectoral front, steel stocks are in focus as Government of India imposed a 12 per cent provisional safeguard duty for 200 days on five steel product categories, including hot rolled coils, sheets and plates, to protect domestic players from surge in imports.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 79632.71, up by 224.21 points or 0.28% after trading in a range of 79253.44 and 79728.39. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.68%, while Small cap index was up by 0.72%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.03%, FMCG up by 0.96%, Telecom up by 0.85%, Metal up by 0.83% and Basic Materials up by 0.67%, while TECK down by 0.43%, IT down by 0.36% and Power down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 3.16%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.60%, HDFC Bank up by 1.48%, Tata Steel up by 1.29% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.14%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.61%, Infosys down by 1.46%, Power Grid down by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.80% and Asian Paints down by 0.67% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said India is ‘actively engaging’ with the new US administration and hopes to conclude the first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement ‘positively’ by fall (September-October) this year. She said ‘We are one of the countries which is actively engaged with the new administration of the United States of America to see how best we can get a bilateral trade agreement done’. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to launch talks for a bilateral trade deal amid the lurking fear of reciprocal tariff being imposed by Washington.

The US and India have aimed for a bilateral trade agreement (BTA), which is a kind of free trade pact. The two have decided to conclude the proposed BTA in two tranches or phases. She said ‘So, the long and short of engaging with the US is not just reciprocal tariff-related matter but in the interest of keeping an agreement in mind and in the interest of one of the largest trading partners with whim we need to have agreement we are working in order that by the fall this year we should have first phase of agreement signed’.

The US President announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs (or import duties) on a number of countries, including India and China, on April 2. However, on April 9, he announced a 90-day suspension of these tariffs until July 9 this year, except for those on China and Hong Kong, as about 75 countries approached America for trade deals. China is facing up to 245 per cent duty on its goods entering the US. She said ‘In between all this, the Assistant USTR (US Trade Representative) had visited India to see the progress or to engage with the negotiating team who is dealing with the tariff-related negotiation and the bilateral trade agreement that we want to sign. In fact, the progress of the agreement, or the trade agreement that we are working on, at least a first tranche is something which we hope to conclude positively by the fall this year’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24180.90, up by 55.35 points or 0.23% after trading in a range of 24072.00 and 24201.65. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 3.13%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.63%, HDFC Bank up by 1.50%, Tata Steel up by 1.23% and Bharat Electronics up by 1.20%. On the flip side, Indusind Bank down by 3.57%, Hero MotoCorp down by 1.86%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.58%, Infosys down by 1.50% and Power Grid down by 1.23% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite surged 54.7 points or 0.84% to 6,500.67, Straits Times rose 49.25 points or 1.29% to 3,808.47, Shanghai Composite strengthened 10.16 points or 0.31% to 3,301.59, KOSPI increased 4.64 points or 0.19% to 2,493.06 and Hang Seng was up by 4.59 points or 0.02% to 21,399.73. On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted lost 244.26 points or 1.29% to 18,861.94 and Nikkei 225 slipped 113.71 points or 0.33% to 34,166.21.