Stock market advances in early deals on fresh foreign fund inflows, India-US trade pact

New Delhi: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty were trading higher in early trade on Wednesday, building on previous day's sharp rally, amid fresh foreign fund inflows and positive sentiment following the India-US trade deal.

A sharp decline in IT stocks, however, restricted the rally in the markets.

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The 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 68.49 points to 83,816.96 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 51.90 points to 25,779.45.

From the Sensex firms, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, NTPC, ICICI Bank and ITC were among the biggest gainers.

Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech and Tech Mahindra were the biggest laggards, declining as much as 5 percent.

The BSE IT index tumbled 4.95 percent to 35,311.34 in early trade.

Foreign institutional investors turned buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 5,236.28 crore, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 1,014.24 crore.

India and the US have agreed on a framework for a trade deal under which Washington will bring down tariffs on Indian goods to 18 percent from the current 50 percent. The announcement is important because the US has imposed a steep tariff on Indian goods entering American markets, effective August 27, 2025.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi traded higher, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index quoted lower.

US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

"The rally fuelled by the US-India trade deal will face hurdles to sustain. The IT selloff in the US yesterday will drag the Indian IT index, too, constraining the rally in the Indian market," VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.68 percent to USD 67.77 per barrel.

On Tuesday, the Sensex ended at 83,739.13, up 2,072.67 points or 2.54 percent. The Nifty zoomed 639.15 points or 2.55 percent to settle at 25,727.55.

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