A bird flies past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India, January 31, 2020. REUTERS
May 29 (Reuters) – Indian shares climbed on Thursday, led by information technology stocks, as investors cheered a U.S. trade court’s decision to block most of President Donald Trump’s proposed “Liberation Day” import duties.
The Nifty 50 (.NSEI), was up 0.36% at 24,837.95, as of 10:10 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex (.BSESN), traded 0.36% higher at 81,604.35.
The Court of International Trade ruled that President Trump exceeded his authority with the proposed tariff plan. Although the White House has appealed the decision, the ruling raised hopes that Trump may scale back from imposing the highest tariff levels he had threatened, lifting global risk sentiment.
The court was not asked to address some industry-specific tariffs Trump has issued on automobiles, steel and aluminum, using a different statute.
“While the situation is still evolving after the White House appeal, the U.S. court ruling has boosted risk sentiment,” said Abhishek Goenka, founder and CEO of IFA Global.
The U.S. court decision boosted the dollar, while safe-haven gold edged lower as investor risk appetite improved.
Asian shares and Wall Street futures advanced, supported by chipmaker Nvidia’s quarterly sales beat and positive revenue outlook released after U.S. market hours.
Eleven of the 13 major sectors advanced. The broader small-caps and mid-cap index gained 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively.
IT companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the United States, jumped 1% to lead the sectoral gains.
Among individual stocks, Jindal Stainless gained 2.2%, while JSW Steel and Tata Steel rose 1.7% and 1%, respectively, lifting the Nifty Metal index (.NIFTYMET), by 1.1%.
Jefferies initiated coverage of Jindal Stainless with a “buy” rating and also upgraded JSW Steel to “buy”, while raising target price of Tata Steel, citing a 8%-10% volume growth over fiscal 2026 and 2027 for the three companies.
Natco Pharma (NATP.NS), gained 3% while Insecticides India (ISIL.NS) jumped 6% on posting quarterly profit growth.
Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sherry Jacob-Phillips