(RTTNews) – Indian shares ended modestly higher on Monday, with IT stocks leading the surge following dovish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Delivering his last keynote address at the central bank’s annual conclave, Powell on Friday said that economic risks are ‘shifting’ and a rate cut may be warranted.
Following his rate-cut hint, Fed fund futures currently price in an 84 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut in September, and at least 100 basis points of easing to 3.25-3.5 percent by the middle of next year.
Meanwhile, on the trade front, there seems to be no hopes for tariff relief as the U.S. officials have already cancelled the scheduled visit to India during August 25-29.
The U.S. has already threatened to double tariffs on all imports from India to 50 percent in retaliation for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian crude.
The penalty is set to take effect from Wednesday and Indian diplomats have said local processors would continue taking crude from Moscow.
The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 329.06 points, or 0.40 percent, to 81,635.91 while the broader NSE Nifty index closed at 24,967.75, up 97.65 points, or 0.39 percent, from its previous close.
The BSE mid-cap index edged up 0.1 percent while the small-cap index finished marginally lower.
The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,236 shares declining while 1,950 shares rose and 200 shares closed unchanged.
Among the top gainers, Infosys, TCS and HCL Technologies all rose around 3 percent.
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