Stock market trades higher ahead of India-US trade deal

Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) The domestic benchmark indices were trading marginally up on Tuesday in the early trade, after the US President Donald Trump announced that “we are close to a deal with India”.

At around 9.30 am, Sensex was trading 91.57 points or 0.11 per cent up at 83,534.07 while the Nifty added 22.25 points or 0.09 per cent at 25,483.55.

Buying was seen in the IT, PSU bank and financial service sectors. According to analysts, the announcement of unilateral tariffs on 14 countries and the exclusion of India from the list indicate that a trade deal between India and US will be announced soon.

"This has already been largely discounted by the market; the unknown areas are the details of possible sectoral tariffs on segments like pharmaceuticals. Market reaction will depend on these details," said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.

In the last trading session, the Nifty ended slightly higher, forming a green candlestick that followed a bullish hammer pattern from the previous session, said experts.

"A sustained move above the 25,500 mark could pave the way for a further rally towards 25,750. On the downside, immediate support levels are seen at 25,222 and 25,120, which may serve as potential entry points for long positions," said Mandar Bhojane Technical Analyst of Choice Broking

Nifty Bank was up 203 points or 0.36 per cent at 57,152.20 in early trade.

The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,606.75 after adding 91 points or 0.15 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 19,035.85 after adding 85.70 points or 0.45 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Eternal, Tata Motors, BEL, Adani Ports, NTPC, Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers. Whereas, Titan, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, M&M and Sun Pharma were the top losers.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 321.16 crore on July 7. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) also bought equities worth Rs 1,853.39 crore on the same day.

In the Asian markets, Seoul, Hong Kong , Japan, China and Jakarta were trading in green, whereas only Bangkok was trading in red.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 44,406.36, down 422.17 points, or 0.94 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 49.37 points, or 0.79 per cent at 6,229.98 and the Nasdaq closed at 20,412.52, down 188.59 points, or 0.92 per cent.

--IANS

skt/na