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 (.NSEI), opens new tab rose 0.63% to 25,219.9 points and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab added 0.66% to 82,726.64. Get the latest news from India and how it matters to the world with the Reuters India File newsletter. Sign up here. MSCI's broadest index for Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab advanced 1.4%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 (.N225), opens new tab 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. Advertisement · Scroll to continue
Report This Ad 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 (.NIFTYFIN), opens new tab and information technology stocks (.NIFTYIT), opens new tab rose 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively. Advertisement · Scroll to continue HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS), opens new tab and ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS), opens new tab rose 0.9% and 1%, respectively, marking their third day of gains after reporting upbeat earnings on Saturday. The broader small-caps (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab ended flat, while mid-caps (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab rose 0.3%. Real estate index (.NIFTYREAL), opens new tab fell 2.6%, with Lodha Developers (LODH.NS), opens new tab and Oberoi Realty (OEBO.NS), opens new tab sliding 7.5% and 3.1%, respectively, following large block deals. Among other stocks, PNB Gilts (PNBG.NS), opens new tab surged 8.2% as its quarterly profit tripled on the back of gains made from securities. Tata Consumer Products (TACN.NS), opens new tab slipped 2.1%, and Dr Reddy's Laboratories (REDY.NS), opens new tab gained 0.6% ahead of their earnings.
