Sensex rises 95 points, Nifty at record high; Bharti Airtel, Zee Entertainment, UltraTech shine

Mumbai: Indian equity indices on Thursday (January 16) witnessed a positive start after the US and China signed the first phase of a trade deal. The Sensex opened 95.19 points high or 0.23% at 41967.92, and the Nifty too saw 26.00 points up or 0.21% at 12369.30. Major gainers on the indices were Bharti Airtel, Zee Entertainment, UltraTech Cement, RIL, Power Grid while Vedanta, Tata Steel, NTPC, Tata Motors, ITC, and Tech Mahindra were major losers.

On Wednesday, the BSE S&P Sensex closed 80 points lower at 41,873 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 19 points at 12,343. Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed. Among stocks, IndusInd Bank was the top loser after dipping by 5.58 per cent to Rs 1,399 per share. 

Meanwhile, world stocks inched to a record high on Thursday after the United States and China signed a deal to defuse their 18-month trade war, which has weighed on global economic growth and hampered investments.

MSCI`s broadest index of world stocks firmed 0.04% in early trade after closing at a record level on Wednesday while its index on Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.10%. Japan`s Nikkei rose 0.14% while Australian shares were 0.6% higher.

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 U.S. goods and services by $200 billion over two years.

The deal does not address structural economic issues that led to the trade conflict and does not fully eliminate the tariffs while the $200 billion purchase targets look daunting to achieve.
Yet it reduced uncertainties that have beset financial markets.

The S&P 500 closed at a record high of 3,289.3 points, up 0.19%, with gains fairly small after the market has rallied for months on hopes of a deal. The index was dragged down by a fall in financial shares following downbeat earnings from Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

(With Agency Inputs)