Sensex, Nifty Extend Gains On Fed Rate Cut Hopes And India-US Trade Deal Talks

Domestic equity benchmarks rebounded on October 29, recovering from the previous session's mild losses, amid expectations of a potential US Federal Reserve rate cut and positive sentiment around the India-US trade deal.

At close, Sensex was at 84,997.13, up 368.97 points, or 0.44 per cent. Likewise, Nifty 50 closed at 26,053.90, up 117.70 points, or 0.45 per cent.

The broader market indices, mirroring the benchmarks, also closed higher. Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices settled 0.64 per cent and 0.43 per cent higher. Nifty 500, which represents more than 92 per cent of the total free float market capitalisation of all NSE-listed shares, also gained over 0.59 per cent.

Oil & Gas Leads, Auto Loses

Amid sectors, oil and gas, energy stocks led the rally, with the Nifty Oil & Gas index closing 2.12 per cent higher and the Nifty Energy index settling up by 1.93 per cent. Nifty Metal and Nifty Media also closed higher by more than a per cent each.

On the other hand, Nifty Auto was the only sectoral index to close in red, down about 0.80 per cent.

Nifty 50 Top Gainers & Losers

Among the Nifty 50 index stocks, NTPC, Power Grid, Adani Ports, ONGC, Adani Enterprises, HCL Technologies, JSW Steel, and Shriram Finance were the top gainers, rising between 2 per cent and 3 per cent. Tata Steel, SBI Life Insurance, HDFC Life Insurance, Asian Paints, Trent, Sun Pharma, and Reliance Industries also gained between 1 per cent and 2 per cent.

On the other hand, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Coal India, Bharat Electronics, Eternal, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki India were the biggest losers during the session, falling between 1 per cent and 2.50 per cent.

Stock Market Outlook

US President Donald Trump said earlier today that he has "great respect" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hinted that a trade deal between the US and India could be announced soon. Speaking at the APEC CEOs Summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, Trump said the US had earlier used trade and tariff measures to ease tensions between India and Pakistan, adding that both countries could have faced tariffs of up to 250 per cent had hostilities continued.

During his address, Trump described Modi as "tough in negotiations" and "a great leader." The two nations have so far completed five rounds of talks for the first phase of a bilateral trade agreement. Market participants will be tracking India-US trade talks for further cues.

Meanwhile, US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to announce their decision on interest rates later today, which is likely to guide the sentiment on the Wall Street as well as on the D-Street back home. Although, a 25-basis point cut is highly anticipated, it remains to be seen whether the Fed will hint at further rate cuts.