Markets extend gains in late trade

Indian equity benchmarks have extended gains in late trade amid positive global cues. U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of trade deals with Japan & Philippines raised optimism of India-U.S. bilateral trade deal and spark hopes for broader progress on international trade. Besides, investors cheered comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent backing Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Bessent said there's no need for him to step down before his term ends in May but he has a chance to cement his legacy by reforming the Fed's non-monetary functions. Meanwhile, on sectoral basis, BSE realty index fell 2.69% dragged by Lodha Developers and Oberoi Realty amid block deal. 

On the global front, all Asian equity markets were trading higher amid reports of upcoming U.S.-China trade talks in Stockholm. European equity markets were trading higher as prospects of an EU-U.S. trade agreement improved after Trump said that EU representatives would come for trade negotiations on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82692.71, up by 505.90 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 82279.73 and 82718.26. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 0.09%, while Small cap index was down by 0.15%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 0.77%, TECK up by 0.71%, Auto up by 0.65%, Telecom up by 0.57% and Healthcare up by 0.46%, while Realty down by 2.69%, FMCG down by 0.58%, Capital Goods down by 0.53%, Industrials down by 0.23% and  Basic Materials down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 2.04%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.70%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.51%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.12% and ICICI Bank up by 1.01%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.23%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.04%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.60%, Tata Steel down by 0.37% and ITC down by 0.31% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Anupriya Patel has said that imports of pharma raw materials worth Rs 1,362 crore have been avoided till March 2025 due to the creation of domestic manufacturing capacity for 25 identified items under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for bulk drugs. 

She has said that as of March 2025, against an investment commitment of Rs 3,938.5 crore over the period of six years, investment of Rs 4,570 crore has already been made under the PLI Scheme for Bulk Drugs. She said as a result of the scheme, cumulative sales of Rs 1,817 crore have been reported over the period from the beginning of the scheme till March 2025, including exports of Rs 455 crore, thereby avoiding imports worth Rs 1,362 crore and creation of domestic manufacturing capacity for 25 identified KSMs/DIs/APIs.

The minister stated that the PLI Scheme for Bulk Drugs has a total budgetary outlay of Rs 6,940 crore and aims to avoid disruption in supply of critical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make critical drugs for which there are no alternatives by reducing supply disruption risk due to excessive dependence on a single source. She said products notified and approved under the scheme prior to commencement of production under the PLI scheme were primarily imported. 

The government has also initiated a PLI Scheme for Pharmaceuticals with a total budgetary outlay of Rs 15,000 crore. Under the scheme for promotion of bulk drugs parks, which has a total budgetary outlay of Rs 3,000 crore, three parks have been approved and are at various stages of development in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25205.50, up by 144.60 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 25085.50 and 25219.05. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors up by 2.06%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.47%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.45%, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise up by 1.39% and Shriram Finance up by 1.37%. On the flip side, Tata Consumer Products down by 2.36%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.22%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.05%, ONGC down by 0.84% and Ultratech Cement down by 0.43% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 408.04 points or 1.6% to 25,538.07, Jakarta Composite gained 106.75 points or 1.45% to 7,451.49, KOSPI increased 13.83 points or 0.43% to 3,183.77, Nikkei 225 surged 1396.4 points or 3.39% to 41,171.32, Taiwan Weighted added 330.75 points or 1.42% to 23,318.67, Straits Times rose 14.31 points or 0.34% to 4,222.57 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 0.44 points or 0.01% to 3,582.30.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 45.97 points or 0.51% to 9,069.78, France’s CAC rose 120.98 points or 1.54% to 7,865.39 and Germany’s DAX gained 266.47 points or 1.1% to 24,308.37.