Sensex gains over 100 points led by auto, RIL shares

Mumbai: Indian benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE’s Nifty 50 opened lower but soon recovered to trade higher despite faltering Asian markets as US tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports took effect on Friday. However, the Indian rupee weakened marginally against the US dollar and was trading past 69 a dollar, tracking losses in Asian peers.

At 10.05am, the Sensex advanced 101.42 points, or 0.29%, to 35,675.97, while the Nifty 50 rose 30.65 points, or 0.29%, to 10,780.40. BSE MidCap and SmallCap rose 0.56% and 0.22%, respectively. Seventeen out of 19 sectoral indices on BSE gained with oil and gas, energy, auto and realty rising over 1% followed by capital goods, healthcare and bankex. Telecom and FMCG were trading lower.

Tata Motors Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd were among the top gainers, whereas Bharati Airtel Ltd, NTPC Ltd, Wipro Ltd and ITC Ltd were among the major losers.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump warned that US may ultimately target over $500 billion worth of Chinese goods, or roughly the total amount that the United States imported from China last year. Beijing has vowed to respond immediately with an equal amount of tariffs of its own against U.S. autos, agricultural and other products. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3%, with Topix up over 1% and Kospi rose 0.2%. Shanghai Composite slid 0.3% and Hang Seng fell 0.5%.

The Indian rupee was trading marginally lower against the US dollar, tracking losses in Asian peers before US tariffs on Chinese goods kick in on Friday. The rupee opened at 68.90 and touched a high of 68.90 and a low of 69.01 a dollar. The 10-year bond yield stood at 7.89%, from its Thursday’s close of 7.897%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. So far this year, the rupee has weakened 7.30%, while foreign investors have sold $585.40 million and $6.10 billion in equity and debt markets respectively.

Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve officials discussed whether recession lurked around the corner and expressed concerns global trade tensions could hit an economy that by most measures looked strong, minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting on June 12-13 released on Thursday showed.

Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE

National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)