Indian Shares Poised for Gains as Trade Tensions Ease and Foreign Flows Improve

(The News Pulse) - India’s key stock indices are poised to start the day on an upward trajectory Thursday morning, driven by foreign investments and optimism surrounding potential easing of tensions between the U.S. and China, which may bolster overall market confidence.

Nevertheless, the direction for the day may well be determined by the earnings reports from leading fast-moving consumer goods companies Hindustan Unilever and Nestle India, along with the expiration of monthly derivatives contracts.

Nifty futures were being traded at 24,415.5 by 8:01 a.m. IST, showing a 0.3% increase from the previous day’s closing of 24,328.95 for the Nifty 50.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated on Wednesday that the elevated tariffs between the U.S. and China cannot be sustained long-term, indicating a willingness to ease tensions in the trade conflict between the globe’s two biggest economic powers, which have sparked concerns about an impending downturn.

This, along with US President Donald Trump's assurances that he has no plans to dismiss the Federal Reserve Chairman, helped boost Wall Street indices overnight.

Asian markets showed varied performance throughout the day, where the MSCI Asia ex Japan index declined by 0.3%. [MKTS/GLOB]

At home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased stocks amounting to 33.33 billion rupees ($389.7 million) on Wednesday, according to provisional figures.

It marked the sixth successive session where Foreign Portfolio Investors bought into the nation, against the backdrop of a declining greenback and promising economic expansion forecasts for India.

The gentle tone of the Reserve Bank of India’s April policy meeting minutes, where they reduced interest rates by 25 basis points, is expected to boost sentiment as well.

The participants of the committee responsible for setting interest rates stated that inflation in India is anticipated to remain close to their targeted levels for this fiscal year. This allows room for promoting economic expansion via additional monetary loosening measures.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Biocon plans to raise between 45 billion rupees ($527.3 million) through the issuance of securities, potentially including both debt instruments and sales to institutional investors.

Bharat Forge will likely be under scrutiny as the Trump administration initiates an investigation into the potential national security implications of bringing medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks along with their components into the U.S.

LTIMindtree narrowly missed the fourth-quarter earnings forecasts because of reduced revenues in its healthcare and consumer divisions.

(Reported by Vivek Kumar M; Edited by Janane Venkatraman)