Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-up opening on Tuesday following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight as well as firm trade in Asian counterparts, as traders reacted positively to reports that Israel and Iran have agreed to a ‘complete and total ceasefire’ to be phased in over 24 hours. Sensex and Nifty are trading in fine-fettle in early deals on account of bargain hunting after previous session’s losses. Traders took note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the government holds extensive stakeholder consultations on the free trade agreements (FTAs) and is pursuing these pacts while keeping in mind the interests of the domestic industry. Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel may have a short-term impact on demand and logistics, particularly in the Gulf region which serves as a crucial hub for Indian exports.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82571.67, up by 674.88 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 82445.84 and 82835.39. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.65%, while Small cap index was up by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.29%, Auto up by 1.27%, Basic Materials up by 1.00%, Telecom up by 0.97% and Metal up by 0.94%, while Utilities down by 0.17%, Power down by 0.09% and Capital Goods down by 0.03% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 4.15%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.37%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.02%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.88% and SBI up by 1.66%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.37%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.81% and Trent down by 0.31% were the few losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the government holds extensive stakeholder consultations on the free trade agreements (FTAs) and is pursuing these pacts while keeping in mind the interests of the domestic industry. He said that India is keeping in mind both the offensive and defensive interests of industry while negotiating these agreements.

He said ‘We do all our FTAs after holding extensive stakeholder consultations and meetings. We address their (industries) concerns and needs’. He added that India is negotiating FTAs with those trading partners which do not compete with the country but rather complement its economy so that industry and people get benefitted from that. He further said ‘Going forward also, we will do FTAs which will keep in mind national and public interests’.

Recently, he had said India and the 27-nation EU bloc are ‘really very near’ to concluding talks for the proposed free trade agreement, with only a few issues left to be resolved. He said India and the European Union (EU) have both agreed to respect each other’s sensitivities so that they do not let the irritants hold back agreements.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25176.30, up by 204.40 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 25140.25 and 25250.85. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 3.99%, Shriram Finance up by 2.68%, JIO Financial Services up by 2.51%, Ultratech Cement up by 2.25% and Larsen & Toubro up by 1.94%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 2.86%, ONGC down by 1.63%, Bharat Electronics down by 1.05%, Indusind Bank down by 0.23% and Trent down by 0.01% were the top losers.

All Asian markets are trading higher; Hang Seng soared 461.63 points or 1.95% to 24,150.76, Taiwan Weighted jumped 452.82 points or 2.08% to 22,184.84, Nikkei 225 surged 405.35 points or 1.06% to 38,759.44, Jakarta Composite gained 108.79 points or 1.6% to 6,895.93, KOSPI increased 77.62 points or 2.57% to 3,092.09, Shanghai Composite added 33.87 points or 0.99% to 3,415.45 and Straits Times was up by 19.03 points or 0.49% to 3,898.29.