Indian stocks gain as U.S. trade talks boost sentiment
The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab rose 0.4% to 25,555.20 points and the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab added 0.41% to 83,752.36 as of 10:30 a.m. IST.
Asian shares rose, with MSCI's Asia ex-Japan index (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab up 0.25%, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 20% tariff on Vietnamese exports under a new deal, boosting expectations of further trade breakthroughs.
U.S. and Indian trade negotiators were pushing on Wednesday to try to land a tariff-reducing deal, but some disagreements remained unresolved, Reuters reported citing sources.
"Sentiment has turned positive after Trump announced an agreement with Vietnam as it signalled an eagerness to strike further trade deals," said Mandar Bhojane, research analyst at Choice Broking.
However, analysts flagged the likelihood of bouts of profit booking in the near future.
Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes gained. The auto index (.NIFTYAUTO), opens new tab led with a 1.1% rise, while small- and mid-cap indexes (.NIFSMCP100), opens new tab and (.NIFMDCP100), opens new tab rose 0.5% each.
Heavyweights HDFC Bank (HDBK.NS), opens new tab and ICICI Bank (ICBK.NS), opens new tab rose 0.7% and 1%, respectively.
HDFC Bank's unit and the newly-listed HDB Financial (HDBF.NS), opens new tab jumped 4% on Thursday after a 13.6% jump in the debut session on Wednesday.
State-run banks (.NIFTYPSU), opens new tab slipped 0.4%, with Punjab National Bank (PNBK.NS), opens new tab falling 2.5% after reporting slower loan growth in its June-quarter update.
Among other stocks, D-mart operator Avenue Supermarts (AVEU.NS), opens new tab lost 3.7% after reporting a moderation in its sales growth in its quarterly business update.
Nykaa (FSNE.NS), opens new tab slid 4.3%. The Banga family, one of the early investors in FSNE, planned to sell 2% stake via block deal at 5.5% discount to Wednesday's closing price, as per multiple news reports, opens new tab.
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