By Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -Indian shares were muted in early session on Tuesday, as a lack of fresh triggers kept the benchmarks in a narrow range for the third straight session, while investors awaited further updates on India-U.S. trade negotiations.
The Nifty 50 was up 0.03% at 24,952.35, while the BSE Sensex was down 0.01% at 82,051.59 points as of 10:48 a.m. IST.
“The market is waiting for the next major trigger. It could be an India-U.S. trade deal. It needs to be seen when it is announced,” said Dharmesh Kant, head of equity research at Cholamandalam Securities.
U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that India had offered a trade deal that proposed “no tariffs” for American goods.
Seven of the 13 major sectors were lower, with information technology and metal stocks leading the gainers. The broader small-caps were up 0.3%, while the mid-caps were down 0.1%.
Metal stocks were top sectoral gainers after top metals consumer China cut benchmark lending rates for the first time since October to help buffer its economy from the impact of the trade war with the United States.
Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries jumped 1.6% and 1%, respectively, and were among the top five Nifty 50 gainers.
Meanwhile, IT stocks rose about 1%, recouping most losses seen in the previous session after Moody’s downgrade on the United States.
MSCI Asia ex Japan, which dropped 0.5% in the previous session, was on course to recover all its losses on Tuesday as investors took stock of the debt load of the world’s biggest economy and awaited trade deals. [MKTS/GLOB]
Among individual stocks, Pfizer jumped 11% and was the top gainer in the Nifty 500 index after the pharmaceutical company posted an 85% surge in fourth-quarter profit on account of a one-time gain from a property sale.
Real estate company DLF climbed 5% as strong demand for luxury offerings lifted its profit for the January-March quarter.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Eileen Soreng)
