US-India BTA negotiation deadlock looms large?

FPJ News Service mumbai

Key indices closed almost unchanged in a volatile trade on Tuesday as the prospects of an interim trade deal between India and the US before Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline remain unclear. India-US negotiations reportedly remain deadlocked over issues such as duty cuts on agricultural and dairy products. This, along with continuous profit-booking by FIIs hit the market sentiment.

The 30-share BSE Sensex settled 13.53 points down at 82,186.81. During the morning trade, it climbed 337.83 points to 82,538.17 but lost momentum later. The 50-share NSE Nifty dipped 29.80 points to settle at 25,060.90. 

“The market’s attention is on quarterly earnings, which slowed lately after some traction from banking stocks. Positivity noticed on Friday and Monday tapered ahead of the critical August 1 deadline of the US trade agreement. Upside in Q1 earnings will be the critical point to sustain the current premium valuations.

Continued profit booking by the FIIs exerts downward pressure, while steady inflows from DIIs could support a range-bound movement with a positive bias towards Q1 results and the trade deal,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments. Shares of Eternal jumped by 11% in a post-result rally. Eternal, which owns the Zomato and Blinkit brands.