Indian benchmarks extend decline amid profit booking, caution over US-India trade deal

MUMBAI: Indian stock benchmarks extended declines on Thursday, weighed down by continued profit booking, following last week’s sharp rally. At the end of the trading session, Nifty was down 48.10 points or 0.19 per cent at 25,405.30 and the BSE’s Sensex was down by 170.22 points or 0.20 per cent, reaching 83,239.47.

“The domestic equity market continued to consolidate as profit booking followed last week’s sharp rally”, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited. However, investors remained cautious ahead of a potential US-India trade agreement, which kept the overall sentiment subdued.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed that India-US will soon strike a trade deal with “much less tariffs”, allowing both countries to compete. India and the US have been negotiating over a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) before the critical July 9 deadline of the 90-day pause on tariff escalations.

Among the index constituents, Dr Reddy, Apollo Hospital and Hero Moto Corp emerged as the top gainers, while SBI Life and Kotak Bank were the major losers. On the sectoral front, Nifty Midsmall Healthcare, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Healthcare Index closed in the green zone, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal ended the day in the negative zone.

On Thursday, out of 3,025 traded stocks 1,450 advanced for the day, while 1,472 ended the day in the red territory. 103 stocks remained unchanged for the day.

“FIIs have turned cautious in the recent days due to premium valuation. Despite these headwinds, sentiment remains supported by optimism surrounding the upcoming earnings season and the weakening US dollar index”, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited.

On the precious metal side, Gold traded with modest gains, was steady to fell 0.19 per cent to USD 3,365.75 in Comex and 0.06 per cent to Rs 97,330 in MCX as of 16:23 IST. (ANI)