India’s BSE Sensex closed about 0.3% down at 83,409.7 on Wednesday, as weakness in financials, realty and oil & gas companies partly offset gains in metals and consumer durables. Continued foreign institutional investor (FII) selling also weighed. Meanwhile, Trump’s upbeat comments on a US-India trade deal helped limit losses.
He said on Tuesday that the US was close to finalizing a trade agreement with India, which could help avoid a 26% reciprocal tariff announced in April and postponed until July 9. On the corporate front, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance and Kotak Bank were the biggest laggards, shedding between 0.9% and 2.1%. On the other hand, metal stocks like Tata Steel outperformed, gaining 3.6%, supported by easing coking coal prices and cost reduction efforts by companies. Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Trent and Maruti also advanced solidly, rising 2.6%, 1.6%, 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively.
