Stock markets climb in early trade amid optimism over India-US trade deal, rally in Asian peers

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in initial trade on Thursday, mirroring a positive trend in Asian markets, amid optimism over India-US trade deal.

The US-Vietnam trade deal also had a positive effect on the domestic equities, analysts said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 242.83 points to 83,652.52 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 83.65 points to 25,537.05.

“US President Trump announced a trade deal reducing Vietnam's tariff to 20 per cent from 46 per cent, raising hopes that India's effective tariff rate may settle around 15–18 per cent.

“Markets await a key trigger to push Nifty towards its all-time high of 26,277.35, with all eyes on the US June nonfarm payrolls data due Thursday—weak numbers could revive Fed rate cut hopes, while strong data may dim them,” Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

From the Sensex firms, Asian Paints, Tata Steel, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal and Tata Motors were among the biggest gainers.

However, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, Trent and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai's SSE Composite index were trading higher while Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday.

“Nifty is likely to trade in the 25,200-25,800 range for some more time till a trigger breaks the range. A positive trigger can come from a possible India-US trade deal to be announced in a few days,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.77 per cent to USD 68.58 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,561.62 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In the previous session, the BSE Sensex ended 287.60 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 83,409.69. The Nifty declined by 88.40 points or 0.35 per cent to settle at 25,453.40.