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Markets relinquish gains to trade tad above neutral lines
Jul-16-2026

Benchmarks wiped off their afternoon gains and slipped into negative territory, but managed to trade above neutral lines in the late afternoon session. Traders opted to book some profits at higher and shied away from any risky bets amid escalating tensions in West Asia. However, investors remained optimistic as the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) preliminary data on India’s balance of payments (BoP) has showed that India recorded a current account (net) surplus of $2.8 billion during April-May 2026, compared with a deficit of $4.1 billion in the corresponding period last year, mainly aided by higher inward remittances from abroad and a rise in services exports. Besides, IT stocks turned in some of the market's best performances with BSE IT index surging 1.09% ahead of quarterly earning release of Wipro and Tech Mahindra and upbeat US inflation data.

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in red weighed by sell off among AI-related stocks. European equity markets were trading lower as high global crude oil price raised concerns of inflationary pressure.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77320.66, up by 135.23 points or 0.18% after trading in a range of 77151.31 and 77579.69. There were 18 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Consumer Durables up by 1.10%, IT up by 1.09%, TECK up by 0.95%, Auto up by 0.48% and Oil & Gas up by 0.29%, while Realty down by 0.83%, Power down by 0.51%, Capital Goods down by 0.45%, Industrials down by 0.41% and Bankex down by 0.39% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 1.85%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.66%, Maruti Suzuki India up by 1.65%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.48% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.24%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.26%, Axis Bank down by 0.94%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.89%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.89% and HDFC Bank down by 0.76% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, welcoming the implementation of the India-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (India-UK FTA), the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has described it as a transformational milestone. It listed benefits of this FTA such as deepening of bilateral trade, enhancement in India's export competitiveness and new opportunities for exporters across sectors. According to the exporters body, the agreement will also encourage greater participation of startups, women-led enterprises, and first-time exporters, while strengthening integration with global value chains and promoting innovation-led exports. 

Further, S C Ralhan, President of FIEO has noted that implementation of agreement marks a historic milestone in India's export journey. It opens a new chapter in the country’s economic partnership with one of India's most important trading partners and provides Indian exporters with preferential market access, greater certainty, and enhanced competitiveness in the UK market. Ralhan also said that this agreement will particularly benefit Indian MSMEs, labour-intensive industries, farmers, artisans, craftsmen, women entrepreneurs, and the services sector, creating new avenues for sustainable export growth and employment generation.

President of FIEO stated that the FTA is expected to provide a significant boost to India's merchandise and services exports by reducing tariff barriers, improving market access, simplifying trade procedures, and encouraging greater investments and technology partnerships between the two countries. He observed that labour-intensive sectors stand to gain substantially from the agreement, particularly textiles and apparel, garments, leather and footwear, carpets, handicrafts, gems and jewellery, furniture, engineering goods, sports goods, marine products, processed foods, tea, coffee, spices, agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and auto components.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24095.15, up by 16.65 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 24051.65 and 24186.50. There were 23 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.14%, Maruti Suzuki India up by 1.81%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.73%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.69% and Wipro up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.37%, SBI Life Insurance down by 2.17%, Shriram Finance down by 1.12%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.92% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.81% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 1980.51 points or 2.97% to 66,771.00, Taiwan Weighted lost 6.61 points or 0.01% to 45,624.98, KOSPI dropped 463.81 points or 6.8% to 6,820.60, Shanghai Composite weakened 73.17 points or 1.88% to 3,882.41 and Straits Times fell 28.68 points or 0.52% to 5,531.04, while Hang Seng advanced 311.9 points or 1.25% to 24,993.00 and Jakarta Composite gained 50.32 points or 0.83% to 6,092.29.

European equity markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 30.67 points or 0.29% to 10,485.25, France’s CAC fell 26.73 points or 0.32% to 8,355.70 and Germany’s DAX lost 56.43 points or 0.23% to 24,943.10.
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