Indian equity benchmarks ended flat with positive bias on Monday, amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. After making a slightly negative start, indices hovered near the neutral lines throughout the session, amid US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's comments that tariffs will be enforced starting August 1 for countries that haven't finalised an agreement with the Trump administration. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Foreign fund outflows: Sentiments remained downbeat as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 760.11 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

GTRI cautions against imports of GM farm products from US: Some concerns also came as Economic think tank GTRI cautioned that allowing genetically modified (GM) farm products from the US under the proposed trade pact would have implications for India as it may affect the country's agri exports to regions like the European Union.

India needs nominal GDP growth rate of 10% annually to achieve Viksit Bharat goal: Traders took note of report that 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. 

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green as relief at the extension of the tariff deadline to August 1. Asian markets ended mostly in green as Japan’s leading index increased more than expected in May after falling in the previous three months.  

The BSE Sensex ended at 83442.50, up by 9.61 points or 0.01% after trading in a range of 83262.23 and 83516.82. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.15%, while Small cap index was down by 0.33%. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were FMCG up by 1.50%, Utilities up by 0.71%, Power up by 0.31%, Oil & Gas up by 0.31% and Energy up by 0.28%, while Telecom down by 1.24%, Basic Materials down by 0.66%, IT down by 0.65%, Metal down by 0.60% and Industrials down by 0.46% were the top losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.00%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.07%, ITC up by 0.93%, Asian Paints up by 0.89% and Reliance Industries up by 0.82%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.41%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.98%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.28%, HCL Technologies down by 1.09% and Maruti Suzuki down by 1.07% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the four-nation European bloc EFTA (European Free Trade Association) is likely to come into force in the next couple of months.  The two sides signed the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10, 2024. Under the pact, India has received an investment commitment of $100 billion in 15 years from the grouping while allowing several products such as Swiss watches, chocolates, and cut and polished diamonds at lower or zero duties.

The European Free Trade Association members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Talking about the government's initiative to promote manufacturing of quality products in the country, he said in the last 10 years, 156 quality control orders (QCOs) covering 672 products have been issued to cut import of sub-standard goods into the country. Till 2014, only 14 such orders covering 156 products were issued. He said that huge opportunities are there for testing, inspection and certification business in India. 

He stated ‘We focused on high quality product manufacturing and it will help capture global markets’. He added India's exports growth demonstrates the country's good quality of goods and services that India offers to the rest of the world. He also said that the government is gradually promoting third-party certification. Besides, he suggested the industry identify areas where testing is required so that the government can set up more testing labs and appealed to larger industry bodies to support MSMEs in upgrading the quality of their products.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25461.30, up by 0.30 points after trading in a range of 25407.25 and 25489.80. There were 22 stocks advancing against 28 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindustan Unilever up by 3.04%, Nestle up by 1.22%, Tata Consumer Products up by 1.12%, Eicher Motors up by 0.95% and JIO Financial Services up by 0.95%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.44%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.89%, ONGC down by 1.52%, Ultratech Cement down by 1.29% and Eternal down by 1.09% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX gained 160.08 points or 0.67% to 23,947.53 and France’s CAC rose 14.07 points or 0.18% to 7,710.34, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 1.58 points or 0.02% to 8,821.33.