Indian benchmark indices recovered from their day’s lows on Monday after US Ambassador Sergio Gor said that India and the United States are continuing to engage in trade talks. The remarks helped ease pressure on market sentiment, which had weakened last week after US President Donald Trump threatened to sharply raise tariffs on Indian goods. At mid-session, the Nifty 50 was trading at 25,733, up 50 points or 0.19 per cent, while the BSE Sensex was up 133 points or 0.16 per cent at 83,709.
The broader market, however, continued to remain under pressure. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices were down 1.24 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively. Sectorally, the Nifty Realty index fell 1.6 per cent, the Nifty Pharma index slipped 0.97 per cent, the Nifty Auto index declined 0.6 per cent, while both the Nifty IT and Bank indices were lower by about 0.5 per cent each.
Following the ambassador’s remarks, benchmark indices staged a sharp recovery from their intraday lows. The Sensex rebounded more than 1,000 points to trade around 83,909.67, up 333.43 points or 0.4 per cent, while the Nifty climbed to 25,801.40, gaining 118.10 points or 0.46 per cent, at around 3 p.m.
“No country is as essential as India for Washington, and both sides are actively engaged in firming up a trade deal,” Gor said on Monday. Referring to the relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, he said that real friends can disagree but always resolve their differences in the end.
“India is the world’s largest nation. So it’s not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there,” he said at a ceremony attended by US embassy employees. He added that while trade is an important part of the bilateral relationship, the two countries will continue to work closely across key areas such as security, counter-terrorism, energy, technology, education and health. “I have travelled all over the world with President Trump, and I can attest that his friendship with Prime Minister Modi is real,” Gor said. The US ambassador also announced that India will be invited to join the Pax Silica alliance as a full member next month, marking another step in strengthening strategic ties between the two countries.