By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks rose on Wednesday, tracking other Asian markets as the United States’ surprise trade deal announcement with Japan boosted hopes of agreements with other trading partners.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.63% to 25,219.9 points and the BSE Sensex added 0.66% to 82,726.64.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan advanced 1.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 3.5%. Stocks in Europe too surged as traders kept an eye on the EU-U.S. trade talks scheduled for later in the day. [MKTS/GLOB]
On the other hand, the prospects of an interim trade deal between India and the U.S. before Washington’s August 1 deadline have dimmed, with talks deadlocked over tariff cuts on key agricultural and dairy products, Reuters reported, citing two Indian government sources.
“The gains in Indian market today have come on the back of a global rally. While there was anticipation of an interim deal between U.S. and India, it does not look like it will materialize before the August 1 deadline,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectoral indexes logged gains. Heavyweights financials and information technology stocks rose 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank rose 0.9% and 1%, respectively, marking their third day of gains after reporting upbeat earnings on Saturday.
The broader small-caps ended flat, while mid-caps rose 0.3%.
Real estate index fell 2.6%, with Lodha Developers and Oberoi Realty sliding 7.5% and 3.1%, respectively, following large block deals.
Among other stocks, PNB Gilts surged 8.2% as its quarterly profit tripled on the back of gains made from securities.
Tata Consumer Products slipped 2.1%, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories gained 0.6% ahead of their earnings.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Janane Venkatraman)
