Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in morning deals, amid foreign fund inflows, a rally in Asian markets and optimism following a fresh trade agreement between India and the US. Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,950.77 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the India-US trade pact will open a $30 trillion market for Indian exporters, especially MSMEs, farmers and fishermen. He said the increase in exports will create lakhs of new job opportunities for the country's women and youth. Traders took a note of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta’s statement that artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is expected to have a net positive effect on employment. However, she said there will be a churn as some jobs get lost, and managing transition to the new technology is the real policy challenge. On the global front, Asian markets are trading higher as a broad advance across risk assets took hold, with gains in tech stocks, Bitcoin and gold extending momentum from Friday’s rally on Wall Street. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84053.52, up by 473.12 points or 0.57% after trading in a range of 83860.42 and 84314.68. There were 22 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.54%, Consumer Durables up by 2.02%, PSU up by 1.84%, Telecom up by 1.77% and Industrials up by 1.54%, while FMCG down by 0.13% was the top losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 6.47%, Titan Company up by 2.01%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.97%, Tata Steel up by 1.55% and Eternal up by 1.39%. On the flip side, ITC down by 1.07%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.84%, ICICI Bank down by 0.53%, Axis Bank down by 0.44% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.28% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, despite heightened fluctuations in gold prices, Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said RBI is very comfortable and not concerned with the outstandings against the precious metal in the financial system. Malhotra said the central bank has done a review of a set of portfolios, including gold loans, and reached the conclusion. 

He said ‘We are very comfortable with gold loans, adding that there is no cause for concern regarding the asset class.’ The overall gold loan outstanding across the financial system almost doubled in the two years to November 2025, driven by a surge in gold prices that encouraged greater lending. However, a sharp decline in the prices of the commodity over the past few days has led to concerns as borrowers can default on their obligations.  

Moreover, he said the loan-to-value ratios in the gold lending segment, which denote the quantum of money that can be given to borrowers against the security, are well below the prescribed industry norms.  He also stated that while the permitted limit is up to 85 per cent, financiers have been keeping the LTV ratio at a much smaller level in practice, which has helped allay the concerns in the book.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25852.35, up by 158.65 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 25780.90 and 25922.25. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were SBI up by 6.47%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.53%, Shriram Finance up by 2.29%, Hindalco up by 2.05% and Titan Company up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Max Healthcare down by 1.52%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.84%, Nestle down by 0.84%, ITC down by 0.78% and ONGC down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading higher; Nikkei 225 surged 2417.32 points or 4.46% to 56,671.00, Taiwan Weighted added 728.72 points or 2.29% to 32,511.64, Jakarta Composite gained 77.56 points or 0.98% to 8,012.82, Shanghai Composite strengthened 49.92 points or 1.23% to 4,115.50, KOSPI increased 212.42 points or 4.17% to 5,301.56, Hang Seng advanced 437.05 points or 1.65% to 26,997.00 and Straits Times rose 31.99 points or 0.65% to 4,966.40.