Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended near the day’s high points on Wednesday, with both the Nifty and Sensex closing with significant gains. The rally was driven by strong buying in IT and Teck stocks. Markets made a gap-up opening and remained in positive territory throughout the session, supported by strong global cues amid easing tensions in the Middle East after a tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Free trade agreements with US, EU to be concluded soon: Traders took encouragement with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement 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. 

India firmly on track to become $5 trillion economy by 2027: Traders took support with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India is firmly on track to become a $5 trillion economy by 2027 despite global turbulence, driven by a collective national effort and strong leadership under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

BTA with US likely to reduce India's goods trade surplus with US: Traders took note of a research report by CRISIL stating that the imminent bilateral trade agreements (BTA) with the US is likely to reduce India's goods trade surplus with that country.  

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in red, as traders took note of comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that rate cuts can wait until the economic effects of tariff increases are better known. Asian markets ended mostly in green as Israel-Iran truce lifted the investors’ mood.

The BSE Sensex ended at 82755.51, up by 700.40 points or 0.85% after trading in a range of 82339.57 and 82815.91. There were 26 stocks advancing against 4 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.63%, while Small cap index up by 1.59%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 1.69%, IT up by 1.68%, Telecom up by 1.42%, Consumer Discretionary up by 1.26% and Consumer Durables up by 1.26%, while Capital Goods down by 0.54%, PSU down by 0.17% and Oil & Gas down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Titan Company up by 3.75%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.25%, Infosys up by 1.86%, Power Grid up by 1.78% and TCS up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 3.00%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.37%, Axis Bank down by 0.59% and NTPC down by 0.08% were the few losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, in order to safeguard domestic players from unfairly priced imports from the neighbouring country, India has imposed anti-dumping duty on six Chinese products so far this month. These duties were imposed on -- PEDA (used in herbicide); Acetonitrile (used in pharma sector); Vitamin-A Palmitate; Insoluble Sulphur; decor paper; and Potassium Tertiary Butoxide. Department of Revenue has said that the duty imposed will be levied for a period of five years on imports of these industrial inputs. The duties were imposed following recommendations for the same from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), an arm of the commerce ministry.

The duty of on PEDA will range from $1,305.6 to $2,017.9 per tonne, while a duty of up to $481 per tonne has been imposed on Acetonitrile imported from China, Russia and Taiwan. Also, a duty of up to $20.87 per Kg has been imposed on Vitamin -A Palmitate imported from China, European Union and Switzerland, while Insoluble Sulphur which is used in tyre industry, and imported from China and Japan will face a duty of up to $358 per tonne. Moreover, an additional duty of up to $1,710 per tonne have been imposed on Potassium Tertiary Butoxide imported from China and the US. These chemicals are used as a catalyst in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), other pharma processes, agro chemical, speciality chemicals and polymers. Further, a duty of up to $542 per tonne has been levied on decor paper.

In order to protect the domestic industries from surge in cheap imports, countries levy anti-dumping duty under the multilateral regime of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO). India is taking steps to boost domestic manufacturing and cut imports from China as the country's trade deficit with China widened to $99.2 billion during 2024-25. In the last fiscal, India's exports to China contracted 14.5 per cent to $14.25 billion as against $16.66 billion in 2023-24, while the imports, however, rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to $113.45 billion against $101.73 billion in 2023-24.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25244.75, up by 200.40 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 25125.05 and 25266.80. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Titan Company up by 3.58%, Infosys up by 2.11%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.08%, Grasim Industries up by 1.83% and JSW Steel up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.97%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.14%, Eicher Motors down by 0.94%, ONGC down by 0.82% and Axis Bank down by 0.65% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 7.95 points or 0.1% to 7,608.04 and Germany’s DAX lost 82.85 points or 0.35% to 23,558.73, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 2.22 points or 0.03% to 8,761.21.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday following Israel-Iran ceasefire relief. A US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran appeared to be holding, but Israeli forces continued their war on Gaza by killing at least 41 Palestinians since midnight. Meanwhile, some hopes for an earlier than expected interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve also supported market sentiments. Japanese shares jumped, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight.