Key gauges end higher amid fresh foreign fund inflows

Indian equity benchmarks saw a relief rally and ended around a percent higher on Monday following buying in Realty, Banking and Healthcare stocks amid fresh foreign fund inflows. A firm trend in Asian markets further contributed to the optimism in equities.  

Some of the important factors in today’s trade: 

Foreign funds boost rally: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) recorded their first net equity inflow of August on Friday, buying Rs 1,932.81 crore worth of Indian shares, according to exchange data. This marked a reversal after five straight sessions of selling, during which FIIs pulled out over Rs 16,000 crore. 

India should not yield to pressure while negotiating trade deal with US: Former G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant has said that India should never lose its strategic autonomy, never yield to pressure while negotiating trade deals with the US. He suggested that the country should look at a long-term perspective and behave in a calm and collected manner. 

Rupee falls against US Dollar: Indian rupee pared initial gains and settled for the day on a negative note against the US dollar, as it came under pressure due to continued dollar demand by importers and a rebound in crude oil prices.

Defence stocks in watch: Amid sustained policy support, increased private participation, and expanding export capabilities, the annual defence production has soared to an all-time high of Rs 1,50,590 crore in the Financial Year (FY) 2024-25, representing a robust 18% growth over the previous fiscal's output of Rs 1.27 lakh crore, and a staggering 90% increase since FY 2019-20, when the figure was Rs 79,071 crore.

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in red as investors looked ahead to a Russia-U.S. summit this week that could help stop the war in Ukraine. Asian markets settled mostly higher amid increasing optimism about the US Fed cutting interest rate in August based on last week's weak economic data. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 746.29 points or 0.93% to 80,604.08 and the CNX Nifty was up by 221.75 points or 0.91% to 24,585.05.    

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 80,636.05 and 79,772.46 respectively. There were 26 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.  

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.35%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.86%, Bankex up by 1.13%, Healthcare up by 1.12%, PSU up by 1.07% and Auto up by 1.03%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.46% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Motors up by 3.24%, Eternal up by 2.84%, Trent up by 2.49%, SBI up by 2.45% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.95%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 0.20%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.09% and Maruti Suzuki down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is negotiating trade agreements with several countries, including the US, and stressed that many nations are keen to engage with New Delhi on the trade front. He also exuded confidence that India's exports in 2025-26 will exceed last year's figures. In 2024-25, India's goods and services exports touched $825 billion. India and the US are negotiating a bilateral trade agreement since March. For the next round of talks, a US team is scheduled to visit India from August 25. These talks assume significance as the US has imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods. A 25 per cent duty came into effect on August 7, with the remaining 25 per cent set to be implemented from August 27.

The commerce minister said India has recently inked trade agreements with several countries, including the UAE, Mauritius, Australia, EFTA (European Free Trade Area), and the UK. Asked how India will deal with the current global trade order and penal tariffs of the US, he said ‘I do not see any de-globalisation. I see countries restructuring their trade routes and their trade partners and I am quite confident this year, India will do more exports than last year.’ 

He further said that the Indian economy is growing faster and the world is looking up to India. He said ‘the whole world recognises us as the fastest growing large economy. We are contributing 16 per cent in the global growth, our inflation is amongst the lowest in the world compared to other emerging market economies, our macro economic fundamentals are the best. India today is stronger, much more confident, much more respected.’ He also said ‘India is growing at 6.5 per cent and we will of course have trading arrangements with whom we have complimentarities.' These remarks assume significance as US President Donald Trump had remarked that India is a dead economy.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 24,600.85 and 24,347.45. There were 44 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 4.23%, Tata Motors up by 3.20%, Eternal up by 2.69%, Grasim Industries up by 2.65% and Apollo Hospital up by 2.31%. On the flip side, Hero MotoCorp down by 0.76%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.23% and Bharti Airtel down by 0.18% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 33.4 points or 0.43% to 7,709.60 and Germany’s DAX lost 76.46 points or 0.32% to 24,086.40, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 16.07 points or 0.18% to 9,111.80.