Post Session: Quick Review

Indian equity benchmarks ended near day’s high points on Monday, supported by strong Q1 earnings from heavyweights like HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. After making a cautious start, soon indices added some gains and remained higher throughout the day, as traders took support with exchange data showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 374.74 crore on a net basis on Friday. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

India to attract $100 billion in FDI from EFTA countries:  Some support also came as Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India remains a key destination for overseas investments and is likely to attract $100 billion in foreign direct investments (FDIs) from the four-nation European bloc European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

Electronics exports jump 47% in Q1: Some optimism came as the commerce ministry data showed that the US, UAE, and China have emerged as the top three export destinations for India's electronics sector during April-June quarter of 2025-26. During April-June this fiscal, the exports rose by 47 per cent to $12.41 billion.

PM Modi to visit UK: Traders took note of report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on two-day visit to the United Kingdom (UK) on July 23-24, which will focus on increasing bilateral trade, and the signing of the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in London.

Global front: European markets were trading in red as EU leaders prepare for a high-stakes showdown over U.S. tariff threats. Asian markets ended mostly in green despite trade tensions persisted, and Japan's ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday.  

The BSE Sensex ended at 82200.34, up by 442.61 points or 0.54% after trading in a range of 81518.66 and 82274.03. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.55%, while Small cap index down by 0.01%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.33%, Bankex up by 1.28%, Metal up by 0.98%, Industrials up by 0.91% and Basic Materials up by 0.73%, while Energy down by 1.22%, Oil & Gas down by 0.70%, FMCG down by 0.49%, Healthcare down by 0.32% and IT down by 0.30% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 7.31%, ICICI Bank up by 2.70%, HDFC Bank up by 2.23%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.75% and Bharat Electronics up by 1.55%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.23%, HCL Technologies down by 1.13%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.08%, TCS down by 1.03% and ITC down by 0.53% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that India needs to be ‘very careful and clever’ while negotiating trade agreements with the US, especially with regard to the agriculture sector, which is heavily subsidised by developed countries. He said ‘I think where it is much more sort of difficult (trade negotiations) is in areas such as agriculture, where every country subsidises its producers, and our producers may be relatively smaller, may have somewhat lower subsidies--unconstrained flow of agricultural products into the country may create problems for them.’

Noting that the trade tensions are negative for both in terms of exports as well as investment, Former RBI Governor said ‘but you must remember that there are opportunities also in what is happening to the extent that India is perceived as an alternative route to some of the other regions like the United States.’ According to him, if the tariffs imposed by the US on China and some other parts of Asia are much higher than tariffs on India, there may be an opportunity for some manufacturing to flow to India. While pointing out that Indian exports in manufacturing to the United States are not that big, he said any kind of tariffs (on India) will have some modest dampening effect, but not a lot.

He said India’s economic growth has sort of settled in the range of 6-7 per cent, and a fraction of percentage point may be affected by the global trade uncertainties. He said but in the longer term, this would spell opportunity for India. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 25090.70, up by 122.30 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 24882.30 and 25111.40. There were 27 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 7.23%, ICICI Bank up by 2.71%, HDFC Bank up by 2.25%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.75% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.68%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 3.22%, Wipro down by 2.23%, Indusind Bank down by 2.19%, Eicher Motors down by 1.20% and HCL Technologies down by 1.16% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading lower; France’s CAC fell 27.89 points or 0.36% to 7,794.78, Germany’s DAX lost 25.87 points or 0.11% to 24,263.64 and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.63 points or 0.02% to 8,990.49.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Monday as investors watched the latest trade developments, with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick saying he was confident the US and the EU could reach a trade deal before August 1. Japanese market was closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen firmed after Japan's ruling coalition lost its majority in the upper house of parliament after a key election, suggesting the result was mostly priced in, even as investors braced for market disquiet ahead of a deadline on US tariff negotiations. Chinese shares gained as the Chinese central bank, People's Bank of China, held the 1-year loan prime rate at 3.0% and 5-year LPR at 3.5%, as expected. Hong Kong shares rose after reports emerged that US President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping might meet ahead of the October APEC summit.