New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices were buoyant during early hours on Thursday on strong global cues as the United States and China signed phase one of the trade agreement.
Sensex hits all-time high:
However, tariffs are to stay and will be addressed in phase two talks, US President Donald Trump said. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 125 points to 42,000 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 32 points at 12,375. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty metal which slipped by 0.96 per cent.
Among stocks, Yes Bank added gains of 1.76 per cent at Rs 40.45 per share while Kotak Mahindra Bank moved up by 1.1 per cent and ICICI Bank by 0.6 per cent.
FMCG majors Nestle India, Hindustan Lever and Britannia advanced by 1.5 per cent, 1.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.
Sensex at 41,991.35 points, up by 118.62 points pic.twitter.com/xhSz1NN0NT
— ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2020
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was up by 1 per cent at Rs 1,539.50 per share. The other prominent winners were Power Grid Corporation, Eicher Motors, UltraTech Cement and Zee Entertainment.
But metal stocks sank. Vedanta was down by 1.7 per cent, JSW Steel by 1.3 per cent, Hindalco and Tata Steel by 1.2 per cent each.
Meanwhile, global stocks hit record highs after the United States and China signed a historic deal to defuse their 18-month trade war. MSCI’s broadest index of world stocks firmed by 0.04 per cent while its index on Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose by 0.1 per cent.
Japan’s Nikkei rose by 0.14 per cent. US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Wednesday signed a deal that will roll back some tariffs and see China boost purchases of US goods and services by 200 billion dollars over two years.
The disputes between the world’s two largest economies have weighed on global economic growth and hampered investments. Analysts said the deal does not address structural economic issues that led to the full-blown conflict.
