Indian markets exhibit mixed trade in early afternoon deals

In a highly volatile session, Indian equity markets were exhibiting mixed trade during early afternoon deals, with the Sensex trading lower while the Nifty 50 holding its head in positive territory, as uncertainty ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision weighed on market sentiment. The street took a note of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest report showing that India's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) commitments declined by 13.96% to $4,344.33 million in September 2026 as against $5,049.32 million in September 2025, with decline in loan and guarantee commitments.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mixed, even after South Korea's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 1.0 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2026. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.7 percent and was up from 0.6 percent in the previous three months.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 73593.04, down by 13.71 points or 0.02% after trading in a range of 73210.76 and 73686.18. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.15%, Healthcare up by 2.05%, Power up by 2.02%, Telecom up by 1.99% and Industrials up by 1.96%, while IT down by 0.44%, Energy down by 0.15% and Bankex down by 0.14% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 2.41%, Power Grid up by 2.33%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.26%, Trent up by 1.89% and Maruti Suzuki India up by 1.65%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 2.39%, TCS down by 1.70%, ICICI Bank down by 1.11%, Asian Paints down by 0.92% and ITC down by 0.86% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, providing an update on progress of India’s trade agreements, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the country is negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with several countries and groups. He said talks with Chile are ‘quite ripe’ for conclusion, while negotiations with Canada making good progress. He added that negotiations with the South Africa-led SACU (Southern African Customs Union) group have started. India and SACU have inked terms of reference (ToR) in August to formally start negotiations towards a preferential trade agreement. The five members of SACU are Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

He also expressed optimism over expediting the negotiations to expand the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with the Mercosur bloc following the continuation of the same government in Brazil after the election. Mercosur is a trade bloc in South America comprising Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The India-Mercosur PTA came into effect on June 1, 2009. The agreement provides preferential tariff concessions on 450 tariff lines or product categories by India and 452 tariff lines by the Mercosur side. Now both sides are looking to expand the scope of the pact.

On Eurasia FTA, he noted that the Eurasia FTA is only about goods and does not include services, therefore, the country is still assessing the benefits of entering into that agreement. India and the five-nation grouping, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), on August 20 last year, inked the terms of reference to formally start talks for the agreement. Besides, he indicated that Ecuador (a South American nation) wants to do an FTA, while Egypt has invited India to discuss potential ways to increase engagement. 

Meanwhile, he said that negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Israel are slow due to the West Asia crisis. He added that the negotiations may take some time, but India is ready to speed up negotiations. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and was established in 1981 as a political, economic and security grouping. India already has a trade pact with the UAE and Oman.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22772.15, up by 18.95 points or 0.08% after trading in a range of 22653.20 and 22804.50. There were 29 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Consumer Products up by 4.53%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.53%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.38%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.31% and Power Grid up by 2.25%. On the flip side, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.60%, Grasim Industries down by 1.41%, TCS down by 1.32%, ICICI Bank down by 1.20% and Asian Paints down by 0.99% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mixed; Jakarta Composite plunged 56.07 points or 1.04% to 5,317.02, Hang Seng declined 219.81 points or 0.95% to 22,992.00, Straits Times fell 8.24 points or 0.15% to 5,407.67 and Shanghai Composite weakened 49.22 points or 1.33% to 3,648.30, while KOSPI increased 168.87 points or 3% to 5,638.34, Taiwan Weighted added 54.8 points or 0.12% to 46,096.23 and Nikkei 225 surged 1175.35 points or 1.85% to 63,365.00.