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Key gauges end higher on Wednesday
Sep-03-2025

Indian equity benchmarks closed higher in a volatile session on Wednesday, driven by a rally in metal, Basic Materials and Healthcare stocks and optimism related to the GST Council meeting. The GST Council is meeting in New Delhi for two days to discuss the proposed pruning of tax rates to 5 per cent and 18 per cent. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

India services PMI hits 15-year high in August: A monthly survey said the Indian services sector growth touched a 15-year high in August, driven by a sharp rise in new orders and output, amid substantial improvement in demand conditions. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index was up from 60.5 in July to 62.9 in August, indicating the steepest rate of expansion since June 2010.

Rupee recovers against US Dollar: Indian rupee recovered from its all-time low level to settle marginally higher against US dollar, on positive domestic equities, softening of crude oil prices and weak US dollar index.

Extension of export obligation period for chemical imports to provide relief to exporters: The government said that extension of the export obligation period for chemical imports under the advance authorisation scheme from 6 to 18 months will provide much-needed relief to exporters amid concerns over steep US tariffs.

Next-gen GST reforms will set economy open, transparent: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that the next generation GST reforms would 'absolutely' set an economy open and transparent with further reduction in compliance burden and benefiting small businesses. 

Global front: European markets were trading higher as a survey showed the euro zone economy continued its slow expansion in August despite a weakening in services sector growth. The HCOB Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) edged up from 50.9 in July to 51.0, marking a 12-month high. Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday with rising bond yields, tariff-related uncertainties and caution ahead of key U.S. employment data due later in the week keeping investors on edge.  

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 409.83 points or 0.51% to 80,567.71 and the CNX Nifty was up by 135.45 points or 0.55% to 24,715.05.    

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 80,671.28 and 80,004.60 respectively. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.  

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.63%, while Small cap index was up by 0.90%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 3.08%, Basic Materials up by 1.53%, Healthcare up by 1.20%, Consumer Durables up by 0.83% and Consumer discretionary up by 0.80%, while IT down by 0.57%, TECK down by 0.55%, Power down by 0.08% and Utilities down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel up by 5.90%, Titan Company up by 1.73%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.62%, ITC up by 1.19% and Eternal up by 1.16%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.19%, NTPC down by 0.55%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.49%, TCS down by 0.45% and Adani Ports &SEZ down by 0.36% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed hope that India will conclude the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the US by the fall or November this year. He said that ‘a little bit’ of geopolitical issues overtook the trade matters in the negotiations for the pact between the two countries. He said ‘I do hope that things will get back on track soon and we will conclude a bilateral trade agreement by the fall, November or so, as was discussed by our two leaders in February’. He said there is an excitement across the world to expand trading and business relations with India. He added ‘We have had a little bit of geopolitical issues overtaking trade issues in our negotiations with the United States of America’.

He noted that India has already inked free trade agreements with Australia, the UAE, Mauritius, the UK and the four European nations bloc EFTA. India and the US have been negotiating the pact since March. So far, five rounds of talks have been completed. A US team was scheduled to visit India from August 25 to hold the next round of talks. However, the US team deferred the visit following the imposition of a 50 per cent duty on Indian goods from August 27. So far, no new dates have been finalised for the sixth round of negotiations. 

India and the US have planned to conclude the first phase of BTA by the fall this year with an aim to more than double bilateral trade in goods and services to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion. Goyal further said that India’s supply chains are resilient, and the nation is not at the ‘mercy of any other country choosing to switch on or switch off the tap’. He said this is making India Atmanirbhar and self-reliant, building the confidence of young India to take on any challenge the world wants to throw at it.

On the India-EU free trade agreement, Goyal said talks are at an advanced stage. He said ‘We are making very active and significant progress’, added that Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal is in Brussels for talks with EU officials on the pact. The 13th round of negotiations between India and the EU will begin on September 8. After the meeting, European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic is likely to visit India next month to take stock of the progress of the agreement. As there is a deadline to conclude the negotiations by the end of this year, this round is important. The EU market accounts for about 17 per cent of India’s total exports, while the EU’s exports to India make up 9 per cent of its total overseas shipments. 

The CNX Nifty touched high and low of 24,737.05 and 24,533.20 respectively. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.   

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Steel up by 5.96%, Hindalco up by 3.02%, JSW Steel up by 2.94%, Coal India up by 2.45% and Indusind Bank up by 2.21%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.25%, Nestle down by 0.72%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 0.70%, Wipro down by 0.55% and NTPC down by 0.54%, and were the top losers. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 50.66 points or 0.56% to 9,167.35, France’s CAC rose 80.85 points or 1.06% to 7,735.10 and Germany’s DAX gained 213.57 points or 0.91% to 23,700.90.

Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday with caution ahead of key US employment data due later in the week, while rising US bond yields and tariff-related uncertainties also kept market sentiments mixed. Chinese shares declined and defense-related shares took a major hit as a massive military parade in central Beijing concluded. Hong Kong shares dropped even after China's services activity expanded at the quickest pace in 15 months in August. Japanese shares fell tracking Wall Street’s losses overnight and after data showed Japan's service sector growth moderated in August. Investors also reacted to reports suggesting that the ruling party is set to call for early party elections.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

3,813.56

-44.57

-1.17

Hang Seng

25,343.43

-153.12

- 0.60

Jakarta Composite

7,885.86

84.27

1.07

KLSE Composite

1,578.52

1.82

0.12

Nikkei 225

41,938.89

-371.6

-0.88

Straits Times

4,289.33

-9.18

-0.21

KOSPI Composite

3,184.42

12.07

0.38

Taiwan Weighted

24,100.30

83.52

0.35
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