Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity markets ended slightly higher on Wednesday, overcoming early volatility amid weakness in global markets. After a cautious start, markets altered between red and green amid growing tensions between India and Pakistan after India's Armed Forces conducted Operation Sindoor, targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan. In final hour of trade, markets managed to close with modest gains as investors were looking forward to US Federal Reserve's policy outcome, which is due later in the day.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India and the UK clinches a landmark trade deal: Sentiments got boost as India and the UK clinched a 'landmark' trade deal that will remove taxes on the export of labour-intensive products such as leather, footwear and clothing, while making imports of whisky and cars from Britain cheaper, in a bid to double trade between the two economies to $120 billion by 2030.

Bilateral trade talks between India and US moving progressively: Piyush Goyal, the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, said that the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the United States is moving progressively in the right direction.

Strong FII inflows: Some support came with provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showing that foreign portfolio investors stayed net buyers of Indian equities for the 14th straight session on Tuesday, as they bought stocks worth Rs 3,794.52 crore.

Global front: European markets were trading in red, as investors react to the latest batch of economic data and earnings updates, and await the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later in the day. Asian markets ended mostly in green, as US and Chinese officials are set to start formal trade talks this week.

The BSE Sensex ended at 80746.78, up by 105.71 points or 0.13% after trading in a range of 79937.48 and 80844.63. There were 16 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index up by 1.36%, while Small cap index was up by 1.16%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.74%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.21%, Metal up by 1.19%, Realty up by 1.12% and Consumer Durables up by 1.05%, while FMCG down by 0.41% and Healthcare down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 5.20%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.02%, Eternal up by 1.63%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 1.41% and Titan Company up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 4.00%, Sun Pharma Inds. down by 1.95%, ITC down by 1.30%, Nestle down by 1.06% and Reliance Industries down by 1.01% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that government's policies have been tailored in a way to support manufacturing and the service sector growth. She said about 60 per cent of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is contributed by the services sector.  The minister said ‘our approach is to strengthen ourselves more on the basis of the assets that we have, whether it is in the form of human capital or technology in which we have a lead, if I can say that way, and also in sectors in which we think we can build further’. 

She noted that India has about 600 million people who are less than 25 years of age and so the country is enjoying demographic dividend. She said ‘so, looking at levers which we want to fully use, whether it is technology or manpower, the government's policies have been tailored in such a way that we are able to support manufacturing and the service sector in which India has a lead’.

With regard to manufacturing, Sitharaman said India needs to steadily increase its share in GDP from current 12-13 per cent to 18 per cent. To boost manufacturing in the country, she said India is focussing on 14 priority sectors or sunrise sectors like electronics, semi-conductors and pharma. Any additional manufacturing capacity in these sectors gets the advantage of Production Linked Incentive. She further said that India wants to build any sustainable supply chain link with the global supply chain using the assets including soft skills that India have. She said ‘we have taken a long-term approach towards the supply chain keeping in mind our strategic strengths and making sure that India's capacities are leveraged.’ 

The CNX Nifty ended at 24414.40, up by 34.80 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 24220.00 and 24449.60. There were 25 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 4.95%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.15%, Shriram Finance up by 2.12%, JIO Financial Services up by 1.95% and Eternal up by 1.83%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 3.47%, Sun Pharma down by 2.08%, Bajaj Auto down by 1.21%, Grasim Industries down by 1.06% and Reliance Industries down by 1.05% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; France’s CAC fell 45.28 points or 0.59% to 7,651.64, UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 25.37 points or 0.3% to 8,572.05 and Germany’s DAX lost 27.92 points or 0.12% to 23,221.73. 

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight ahead of the US Fed's interest rate decision and Powell's remarks for policy direction. Chinese and Hong Kong shares gained after Chinese authorities announced a raft of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts and a major liquidity injection, to help boost the economy. Sentiment was also bolstered after confirmation that trade talks between the US and China would take place in Switzerland this week, the first formal talks between the countries since the US President Donald Trump declared sweeping tariffs last month. However, Japanese shares declined slightly as traders returned to their desks after a two-day holiday.