Indian equity benchmarks made flat-to-negative start on Monday following mostly negative cues from Asian counterparts and lack of cues from Wall Street on Friday amid ongoing concerns about U.S. tariffs after US President Donald Trump announced that his government will send letters to around 170 trading partners outlining new, simple unilateral tariffs that will take effect on August 1. Market participants avoided to take risk ahead of the upcoming earnings results for the April-June quarter (Q1FY26). At this point of trade, Sensex and Nifty are trading tad higher with cautiousness amid buying at FMCG stocks. Some support came as the Reserve Bank of India said that India's forex reserves were up by $4.84 billion to $702.78 billion for the week ended June 27. Besides, as per a report, India is actively negotiating bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with over a dozen countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel, Oman, European Union, Switzerland, Russia, and Australia.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83493.76, up by 60.87 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 83262.23 and 83502.29. There were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.24%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.01%, Utilities up by 0.55%, Realty up by 0.45%, Consumer Durables up by 0.40% and Power up by 0.33%, while Telecom down by 0.73%, Capital Goods down by 0.26%, IT down by 0.24%, TECK down by 0.19% and Metal down by 0.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.67%, Asian Paints up by 0.95%, Reliance Industries up by 0.62%, Bajaj Finserv up by 0.58% and Trent up by 0.58%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 1.96%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.03%, HCL Technologies down by 0.96%, Eternal down by 0.90% and ICICI Bank down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, in order to achieve the government's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Rajiv Memani has said India needs an average nominal Gross Domestic Procut (GDP) growth rate of 10% annually. Nominal GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country, measured using current market prices, without adjusting for inflation, unlike real GDP.

The president observed that the interim trade pact between India and the US, expected to be finalised shortly, will remove the cloud of ‘uncertainty’, providing access to a bigger market for Indian firms, especially in labour-intensive sectors. The trade pact between the two nations will also pave the way for technology transfers, more joint ventures and partnerships.

He said ‘So I think first is that the uncertainty which was there, I think that will go away. People will get a clearer direction of what will happen in the future, and I think that has a very positive impact’. according to CII, India's economy is expected to grow 6.4-6.7% during the current financial year driven by strong domestic demand, even as geopolitical uncertainty poses downside risks. He added ‘We have a very good position macro economically, things are very stable. Our institutions, whether it's the capital markets, whether it is RBI, whether it is banks, are in good shape, corporate balance sheets are looking stronger’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25479.65, up by 18.65 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 25407.25 and 25489.80. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 1.66%, Asian Paints up by 1.16%, Tata Consumer Products up by 0.91%, Eicher Motors up by 0.83% and Bajaj Finserv up by 0.63%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.02%, Eternal down by 1.09%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.00%, Hindalco down by 0.85% and HCL Technologies down by 0.85% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in red; Taiwan Weighted lost 209.53 points or 0.93% to 22,337.97, Nikkei 225 slipped 147.49 points or 0.37% to 39,663.39, Hang Seng declined 97.19 points or 0.41% to 23,818.87, Shanghai Composite weakened 7.27 points or 0.21% to 3,465.05 and Jakarta Composite was down by 6.89 points or 0.1% to 6,858.30. On the other hand, Straits Times rose 14.25 points or 0.36% to 4,027.87 and KOSPI was up by 10.99 points or 0.36% to 3,065.27.