Markets hover near day’s high in late trade

Indian equity markets were hovering near day’s high in late trade amid positive global cues. Investors remained optimistic after Iran and Israel agreed for a cease fire, raising hopes of de-escalation. Though, trade remained range bound as investors remain watchful of any developments regarding the Bilateral Trade deal as Trump’s tariff deadline of July 9 comes closer. In that regard, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that negotiations for the proposed free trade agreements with the US and European Union (EU) are progressing at a fast pace and would be concluded soon. All efforts are being made to boost exports to achieve the ambitious target of $2 trillion by 2030. Also, traders remain cautious amidst persistent Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) fund outflow. The FIIs were the net sellers on yesterday’s trade with net selling of Rs 2,973.24 crore. 

On the global front, Asian equity markets are trading mostly in green as traders shrugged off comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that rate cuts can wait until the economic effects of tariff increases are better known. European equity markets were trading mostly in green after U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy said that talks between U.S. and Iran were promising and that Washington was hopeful for a long-term peace deal. Back home, IT stocks showed significant up move as heavy weights like TCS, Infosys and HCL Tech pushed the BSE Information Technology index up by 1.59%. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82713.66, up by 658.55 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 82339.57 and 82815.91. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index surged 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 1.39%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 1.63%, IT up by 1.59%, Telecom up by 1.38%, Consumer Durables up by 1.24% and Consumer Discretionary up by 1.11%, while Capital Goods down by 0.74%, PSU down by 0.22% and Oil & Gas down by 0.08% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 3.58%, Infosys up by 2.12%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.83% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.70%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 3.08%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.18% and Axis Bank down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a research report by CRISIL has said that the imminent bilateral trade agreements (BTA) with the US is likely to reduce India's goods trade surplus with that country. During the financial year 2024-25, India's trade surplus with the US stood at $41.18 billion.

The report said after completion of trade pact, India will be able to import more energy, certain agriculture products and defence equipment among others. It said although the US is India's largest export partner, there is scope to increase exports further in areas like smartphones, pharmaceutical products and labour-intensive exports such as textiles, gems and jewellery.

It said the US announced reciprocal tariffs on India and a host of other nations in April 2025, and then paused the increase for 90 days from April 10 to negotiate trade deals with these countries. As India negotiates a trade deal with the US in the form of BTA, the first tranche is expected to be completed by September this year. 

According to the report, India should be prepared to see more imports from the US under BTA. This is because India's tariffs are much higher than the US and bringing these down would benefit the exporters in the US. It said India's exports, however, are unlikely to see a major spike because the focus of the US administration is to reduce the trade deficit with India and most of the top exports are already duty-free. The US is not only the world's largest economy, but also the world's largest importer.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25233.75, up by 189.40 points or 0.76% after trading in a range of 25125.05 and 25266.80. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 3.58%, Infosys up by 2.18%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.00%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.74% and Wipro up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 3.03%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.20%, Eicher Motors down by 0.99%, Shriram Finance down by 0.65% and Axis Bank down by 0.56% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 297.6 points or 1.22% to 24,474.67, Shanghai Composite strengthened 35.4 points or 1.02% to 3,455.97, Straits Times rose 22.17 points or 0.57% to 3,926.47, Taiwan Weighted added 241.85 points or 1.08% to 22,430.61, Nikkei 225 surged 151.51 points or 0.39% to 38,942.07 and KOSPI increased 4.61 points or 0.15% to 3,108.25, while Jakarta Composite plunged 48.63 points or 0.71% to 6,820.54.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.01 points or 0.15% to 8,772.00 and France’s CAC rose 8.74 points or 0.11% to 7,624.73, while Germany’s DAX lost 24.58 points or 0.1% to 23,617.00.