Sensex, Nifty trade in fine-fettle amid easing geopolitical tensions

Indian equity benchmarks made gap-up opening on Thursday following firm cues from Wall Street overnight as well as broadly positive cues from Asian counterparts, as traders reacted to US President Donald Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum, where he ruled out the use of military force to take control of Greenland. Concerns about a tariff war between the U.S. and Europe also subsided after Trump said he would not go forward with the tariffs he threatened to impose on several European nations. Sensex and Nifty were trading in fine-fettle in early deals with gains of over a percent each on account of value buying at lower level after three consecutive sessions of decline. Market participants also reacted to reports indicating that United States President Donald Trump hinted at optimism on a bilateral trade deal with India. Some support also came as Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India will keep growing by 6-8 per cent in real terms and 10-13 per cent in nominal terms over the next five years, supported by moderate inflation and strong growth. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82751.02, up by 841.39 points or 1.03% after trading in a range of 82383.77 and 82763.00. All 30 stocks on the index were trading higher.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.72%, while Small cap index was up by 1.70%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.04%, Capital Goods up by 1.97%, Auto up by 1.88%, Industrials up by 1.85% and PSU up by 1.82%, while there was no loser on the BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 2.87%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.82%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.48%, Asian Paints up by 2.22% and SBI up by 2.10%.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the country will definitely become the world's third-largest economy over the next few years. He noted that it is built on four pillars -- the pillar of public investment in physical, digital and social infrastructure, the pillar of making sure that the entire society grows with the growth of the country, that is inclusive growth, the pillar of manufacturing and innovation, and the fourth pillar of simplification. He added that all these put together with the technology platform, the country can achieve a real growth of 6-8 per cent with moderate 2-4 per cent inflation and nominal growth of 10-13 per cent in the next five years.

He said what is working really well is that in the last decade, there has been a transformational change in the country, and it's a very well thought-through, well-defined and a very focused execution. He said ‘What's really a matter of concern on our mind is the global debt, which is there in the rich world and how these mountains of debt will unravel and how that will impact. We saw in Japan a run on the bonds, and if those kinds of things happen on a large scale, it will be a matter of concern as to what would be the impact on our country’. He noted otherwise, everything else is in a proper shape that we will become the third largest economy in the coming years.

Regarding US’ high tariffs on India and its impact on growth, Vaishnaw said India is a very resilient economy with strong macro and micro fundamentals, and that has helped the country through this turbulent period. He added ‘Our producers are finding new markets, and our exports have actually increased despite high tariffs. We are expanding to new markets and also trying to find good and healthy trade agreements in the existing markets. In the last ten years, India has emerged as a very good value chain partner for the world’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25421.00, up by 263.50 points or 1.05% after trading in a range of 25302.45 and 25431.85. There were 48 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 4.76%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.10%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.92%, Tata Steel up by 2.80% and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Max Healthcare down by 0.37% and ICICI Bank down by 0.06% were the only losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 1007.36 points or 1.91% to 53,782.00, Taiwan Weighted jumped 505.32 points or 1.62% to 31,751.69, Jakarta Composite gained 82.9 points or 0.92% to 9,093.23, KOSPI increased 60.56 points or 1.23% to 4,970.49 and Straits Times was up by 23.36 points or 0.49% to 4,833.24. On the other hand, Hang Seng declined 18.06 points or 0.07% to 26,567.00 and Shanghai Composite was down by 6.08 points or 0.15% to 4,110.86.