Indian equity benchmarks made a positive start on Tuesday and soon added more points tracking strong global cues. Sensex and Nifty were trading higher with decent gains in early deals on account of buying in almost all the sector indices except auto. Foreign fund inflows aided the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Indian equities worth Rs 2,254.64 crore on February 9. Traders took note of report that India and Greece have signed a Joint Declaration of Intent on strengthening defence industrial cooperation between the countries, which marks a starting point for developing a five-year roadmap for boosting the partnership. Besides, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will hold a meeting with representatives of export promotion councils and industry associations.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, aided by continued strong gains in Japan following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's landslide victory in Sunday's general election.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 84327.05, up by 261.30 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 84063.47 and 84375.31. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Discretionary up by 0.94%, Auto up by 0.91%, Telecom up by 0.80%, Consumer Durables up by 0.76% and IT up by 0.74%, while Bankex down by 0.05% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 2.09%, Tata Steel up by 1.56%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.49%, Titan Company up by 1.47% and TCS up by 1.12%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.04%, Asian Paints down by 0.67%, HCL Technologies down by 0.42%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.30% and SBI down by 0.30% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, after India clinch deals with the United States (US) and European Union (EU) bloc, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will hold a meeting with representatives of export promotion councils and industry associations on February 11. The meeting assumes significance as India and the US have finalised a framework for signing the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement. 

Indian exporters were keenly waiting for this deal as the US is the largest export destination for several labour-intensive sectors such as textiles, leather and footwear and gems and jewellery. The steep 50 per cent tariffs were hurting India’s exports to America. Under this, the US has agreed to reduce the 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent. It has already eliminated the punitive 25 per cent tariffs on India, which was imposed in August last year for purchasing Russian crude. Earlier, Goyal had said the interim pact will open a $30 trillion market for Indian exporters.

Moreover, India has last month the conclusion of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the 27-nation EU bloc. India’s pact with the EU will be the biggest, as the bloc comprises 27 developed countries. The EU bloc includes France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland, Denmark and Sweden.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25948.20, up by 80.90 points or 0.31% after trading in a range of 25870.45 and 25962.30. There were 31 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 2.84%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.03%, Tata Steel up by 1.88%, JIO Financial Services up by 1.75% and Titan Company up by 1.58%. On the flip side, Bajaj Finance down by 1.26%, Shriram Finance down by 0.99%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.86%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.53% and Asian Paints down by 0.35% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 1237.06 points or 2.19% to 57,601.00, Taiwan Weighted jumped 559.49 points or 1.73% to 32,964.11, Hang Seng rose 142.84 points or 0.53% to 27,170.00, Jakarta Composite gained 79.27 points or 0.99% to 8,111.14 and KOSPI increased 5.78 points or 0.11% to 5,303.82. On the other hand, Straits Times fell 4.58 points or 0.09% to 4,956.25 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.75 points or 0.02% to 4,122.34.