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Markets trade in fine-fettle amid India, US trade deal hopes
Dec-12-2025

Indian equity benchmarks made a gap-up start on Friday and soon gained some traction tracking positive global cues. Sensex and Nifty were trading higher with gains of around half a percent each in early deals on account of healthy buying in almost all the sector indices except IT. some optimism came as Commerce ministry reportedly said that India and the US have concluded two-day talks with both sides exchanging views on trade-related issues, including the ongoing negotiations for a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement. Both sides agreed to continue the current purposeful and positive engagements. Besides, Niti Aayog in a report said that India’s corporate bond market has the potential to exceed Rs 100-120 trillion by 2030, provided some deeper structural reforms and institutional capacity-building are undertaken.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly higher as the markets continue to react to the US Fed's widely expected third consecutive interest rate cut and the Fed's less hawkish than expected outlook for interest rates. Back home, market participants were eyeing the retail inflation data to be out later in the day for more directional cues.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 85221.22, up by 403.09 points or 0.48% after trading in a range of 85031.71 and 85282.76. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.79%, while Small cap index was up by 0.62%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.74%, Metal up by 1.59%, Basic Materials up by 1.24%, Industrials up by 1.15% and Power up by 0.86%, while IT down by 0.10% was the sole losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.26%, Tata Steel up by 2.04%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.31%, Axis Bank up by 1.15% and Bharat Electronics up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.46%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.24%, HCL Technologies down by 0.23%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.17% and SBI down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in its latest report titled ‘India's Employment Prospects: Pathways to Jobs’ has said that India needs to overcome bottlenecks to increase both quality and quantity of workforce participation and labour productivity. The report underlines the role of skilling and small enterprises as key drivers of job creation in the country. It noted that the recent increases in employment are primarily due to the rise in self-employment, while transition to a skilled labour force has been slow. It said strengthening employment opportunities in labour-intensive manufacturing and services sectors could help sustain GDP growth around 8 per cent, consistent with the vision of Viksit Bharat.

NCAER Vice Chairman Manish Sabharwal said ‘India is on track to become the world's 3rd largest economy, and while its per capita GDP currently ranks 128th, this highlights valuable opportunities to prioritise employment and inclusive growth.’ The main challenge is that the unincorporated household enterprises operate with low levels of capital, productivity, and technology adoption.

Regarding persistent challenges in generating employment despite a distinct demographic advantage, the report says that on the supply side, India's workforce could benefit greatly from upskilling, particularly with the advent of new technologies and AI. Medium-skilled jobs dominate employment growth, especially in services, whereas manufacturing remains low-skill intensive. It said ‘Increasing the share of skilled work force by 12 percentage points through investment in formal skilling could lead to more than a 13 per cent increase in employment in the labour-intensive sectors by 2030’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 26024.85, up by 126.30 points or 0.49% after trading in a range of 25963.10 and 26038.40. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 2.26%, Hindalco up by 2.04%, Tata Steel up by 1.92%, Bharat Electronics up by 1.30% and Interglobe Aviation up by 1.27%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 0.50%, Wipro down by 0.41%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 0.35%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.23% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 411.18 points or 0.82% to 50,560.00, Hang Seng jumped 361.49 points or 1.4% to 25,892.00, Taiwan Weighted soared 97.34 points or 0.35% to 28,122.09, Straits Times rose 54.08 points or 1.2% to 4,574.91, Jakarta Composite gained 32.61 points or 0.38% to 8,653.09 and KOSPI increased 25.39 points or 0.62% to 4,136.01, while Shanghai Composite was down by 1.54 points or 0.04% to 3,871.78.
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