By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) – Indian shares extended their winning streak on Wednesday, boosted by hopes of progress in trade talks with Washington and growing expectations of a U.S. rate cut next week.
The Nifty 50 rose 0.42% to 24,973.1 and the BSE Sensex gained 0.4% to 81,425.15. While the 50-stock index rose for a sixth straight session, the Sensex has now risen in five of the six trading days.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration is continuing negotiations to address trade barriers with India and that he would talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising hopes of a deal after weeks of discord.
“U.S. rate cuts and clarity on tariffs can set the stage for India to break away from being an underperformer in the emerging markets,” said Priyam Shah, partner at Falcon Capital Partners.
Thirteen of the 16 major sectors logged gains on the day. The broader small-caps and mid-caps added 0.7% and 0.9%, respectively.
Information technology companies, which earn a significant chunk of their revenue from the U.S., rose about 2.6% and were the top sector gainers.
Apart from easing trade tensions between India and the U.S., a potential rate cut by the Fed next week has propelled IT stocks higher. The index has risen 5.5% in two sessions.
Analysts also pointed that U.S. rate cuts could prompt foreign flows into emerging markets like India.
Textile companies such as Welspun Living, Vardhman Textiles, Trident, and Arvind climbed between 3.7% and 10% on U.S.-India trade deal hopes.
Seafood exporters Apex Frozen and Avanti Feed also soared 15.7% and 14.8%, respectively, on the news. The stocks also got a boost from European Union clearing 102 additional Indian fishery establishments for exports to member countries.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman)
