Indian equity benchmarks opened mixed on Tuesday amid mixed cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex traded marginally higher in early deals, supported by gains in financial and automobile stocks following strong quarterly earnings, which offset profit booking in information technology shares after their recent rally. However, the Nifty traded deeply in red, giving up part of the previous session's sharp gains that followed the launch of a new stock closing price mechanism by the exchanges.
Investors remained cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision scheduled for August 5. Meanwhile, market participants closely monitored renewed U.S.-Iran negotiations for indications of a potential agreement that could pave the way for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
On the global front, Asian markets traded mixed despite a strong rally on Wall Street, which was supported by easing oil prices, as investors continued to assess the impact of the recent joint U.S.-Japan currency intervention.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 78833.80, up by 194.77 points or 0.25% after trading in a range of 78698.11 and 79143.15. There were 19 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 1.51%, Metal up by 1.14%, Industrials up by 1.07%, Power up by 0.94% and Basic Materials up by 0.63%, while IT down by 0.18%, TECK down by 0.05% and Healthcare down by 0.02% were the few losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 1.57%, Tata Steel up by 1.51%, Trent up by 1.19%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.89% and Bharat Electronics up by 0.68%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.67%, Titan Company down by 0.63%, Infosys down by 0.51%, HDFC Bank down by 0.46% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.43% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, The Government has proposed significant relaxations to the eligibility criteria for Eligible Investment Funds (EIFs) managed from India, aiming to strengthen the country's position as a global fund management hub. Under the proposed Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, offshore funds seeking tax exemption on their global income would no longer be required to meet several existing conditions. These include maintaining a minimum of 25 investors, limiting a single investor's participation to 10%, restricting investments exceeding 25% of the fund corpus in a single entity, prohibiting investments in associate entities, and maintaining a minimum average monthly corpus of Rs 100 crore.
The Bill, which has been circulated among Members of Parliament, is expected to be introduced in the Lok Sabha by Nirmala Sitharaman soon. It also proposes to remove the separate exemption criteria applicable to funds operating from the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSC). This would eliminate the existing distinction between IFSC and non-IFSC offshore funds by introducing a uniform eligibility framework, ensuring that the same tax exemption conditions apply to all eligible investment funds managed from India.
Additionally, the Bill seeks to replace the Ordinance promulgated on June 5, which granted tax exemption on interest income and capital gains earned by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from investments in Government Securities (G-Secs). The Ordinance was introduced to attract foreign capital amid pressure on the depreciating rupee arising from the West Asia crisis. According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the measure was aimed at mitigating the impact of external economic shocks, preserving domestic economic stability, and supporting key sectors affected by prevailing global conditions through amendments to the relevant tax provisions.
In June, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the measures announced by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost foreign capital inflows were only the 'first step' toward attracting overseas investments, while indicating that additional initiatives could follow. She emphasized, 'We recognise, we need more foreign capital to come in.' To reduce the compliance burden for foreign investors in G-Secs, the Government expanded the list of securities eligible under the Fully Accessible Route (FAR) on June 5 to include all new issuances of G-Secs. On the same day, the RBI also permitted banks to access its swap facility for Foreign Currency Non-Resident (Bank) [FCNR(B)] deposits with maturities ranging from three to five years until September 30. The facility enables banks to swap U.S. dollar deposits with the RBI, helping them manage foreign exchange risks more effectively.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24623.60, down by 150.70 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 24589.35 and 24703.90. There were 14 stocks advancing against 35 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco Industries up by 1.23%, Trent up by 0.84%, Tata Steel up by 0.59%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 0.48% and Eternal up by 0.42%. On the flip side, Grasim Industries down by 3.22%, Titan Company down by 2.40%, Bajaj Auto down by 2.18%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.00% and Infosys down by 1.52% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mixed; Nikkei 225 slipped 185.9 points or 0.29% to 63,569.00, Hang Seng declined 105.4 points or 0.41% to 25,904.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 93.2 points or 0.22% to 43,293.21 and KOSPI dropped 73.95 points or 1.2% to 6,183.50. On the other hand, Jakarta Composite rose 36.94 points or 0.59% to 6,271.44, Straits Times gained 17.17 points or 0.31% to 5,629.45 and Shanghai Composite was up by 5.93 points or 0.16% to 3,815.59.
