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Firm trade persists over Dalal Street
Aug-20-2026

A firm trade persisted over the Dalal Street in early afternoon deals, tracking firm global cues, as investor sentiment received a boost from easing global bond yields after an announcement by the U.S. Treasury Department that it would buy back more longer-term debt, covering maturities of between 10 and 30 years in a bid to keep borrowing costs in check.

Both benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, were witnessing a broad-based buying, with investors taking advantage of lower levels after the recent sell-off. However, elevated crude oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty kept upside in limit.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after China maintained its loan prime rates for the fifteenth consecutive month, as widely expected. The People's Bank of China left its one-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.0 percent. Similarly, the five-year LPR, the benchmark for mortgage rates, was retained at 3.50 percent.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77466.64, up by 556.96 points or 0.72% after trading in a range of 77371.00 and 77513.99. There were 27 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.95%, IT up by 1.03%, TECK up by 0.89%, Consumer Disc up by 0.85% and Utilities up by 0.74%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 2.11%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.76%, Axis Bank up by 1.39%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.22% and Infosys up by 1.15%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.26% and Tata Steel down by 0.14% were the only losers.

Meanwhile, the minutes of Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showed that rate-setting panel was broadly agreed that rising food and fuel prices posed inflation risks, but there was limited evidence of broad-based price pressures, warranting a wait-and-watch approach, while voting for the status quo on interest rates. The MPC met on August 3-5 and unanimously decided to keep the benchmark policy rate (repo) unchanged at 5.25%, opting to wait for greater clarity on whether higher energy costs triggered by the US-Iran conflict feed into broader inflationary pressures. During the meeting RBI Governor Malhotra highlighted that the Indian economy has performed better than expected in Q1:2026-27 despite the conflict in West Asia disrupting supply chains, heightened uncertainty, and an erratic monsoon.

On status quo, Malhotra pointed that monetary response to a supply-side shock is warranted when there are signs of it leading to a generalisation of inflation, de-anchoring of inflation expectations or persistent inflation. While risks remain, evidence of price pressure is limited. However, he emphasized the need to remain watchful as the risks of higher food, fuel and other input prices translating into a broad-based increase in inflation and de-anchoring of expectations persist and added that any evidence of these risks materialising may need policy tightening.

Besides, external MPC member Nagesh Kumar has said that the slight improvement in the growth and inflation outlook of the Indian economy should not be a cause for any complacency. He added that the agriculture outlook continues to remain clouded by the El Nino, although the monsoon deficit has been mitigated in July in several parts of the country. On growth front, another external MPC member Ram Singh noted that the growth rate of the economy at about 7% without any noticeable signs of demand-driven heating (as indicated by the core inflation data that has been consistently below 4% for quarter after quarter until now), suggests that the potential growth rate consistent with a neutral interest rate is well above 7%.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24217.20, up by 138.90 points or 0.58% after trading in a range of 24184.55 and 24226.85. There were 39 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 2.33%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.73%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.68%, Shriram Finance up by 1.65% and JIO Financial Serv. up by 1.54%. On the flip side, Hindalco Industries down by 0.89%, Nestle India down by 0.56%, Asian Paints down by 0.54%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.32% and ONGC down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 98.84 points or 1.55% to 6,492.97, KOSPI increased 381.41 points or 5.57% to 6,852.58, Taiwan Weighted added 214.39 points or 0.48% to 44,933.74, Hang Seng advanced 296.93 points or 1.16% to 25,792.00, Nikkei 225 surged 793.58 points or 1.2% to 66,120.00 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 9.3 points or 0.24% to 3,903.72, while Straits Times fell 12.02 points or 0.21% to 5,682.22.
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