Domestic benchmark equity market indices, Sensex and Nifty, ended marginally up on Thursday as reports of a possible meeting of US President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin raised hopes of a softer stance by America on trade.
The Sensex rose 0.1 per cent, or 79.27 points, to end at 80,623.26. The Nifty 50 also gained 21.95 points, or 0.09 per cent, 24,596.15. Both indices opened weak on Thursday after US President Donald Trump doubled tariff on India to 50 per cent for buying Russian oil.
“Domestic equities recovered sharply from the intraday lows amid a volatile weekly expiry day. Although the earlier trade was weighed down by broad-based selling following steep US tariff hikes on India, sentiment improved toward the close as reports of potential peace talks involving Trump, Putin, and (Ukrainian President Volodymer) Zelensky which raised hopes of a softer US stance on trade,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on India over its continued purchase of Russian oil. This will raise the total tariff on some Indian imports to the US to 50 per cent, among the highest rates imposed by America on any trading partner. Trump has given a three-week, or 21 days, window to negotiate an agreement.
The optimism around a potential India-U.S. trade settlement helped sentiment, with a 20-day window still available for negotiations and the US trade delegation scheduled to visit India on August 24, said Siddhartha Khemka.
On Thursday, the recovery was led by the IT and pharma sectors. The NSE IT gained 0.87 per cent and NSE Pharma ended 0.75 per cent up.
The NSE companies that gained the most included Hero Motocorp (4.27 per cent), Tech Mahindra (1.99 per cent) and JSW Steel (1.94 per cent).
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