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Indian shares ended higher for a second consecutive session on Wednesday after India and the U.S. agreed to speed up talks on a bilateral trade.<\/p>\n
After a high-level official meeting, it was decided to intensify efforts to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial Trade Agreement,” according to a statement issued by the Commerce and Industry Ministry.<\/p>\n
Overall gains, however, remained capped ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision due later in the day. The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by 25 basis points amid slowing job growth.<\/p>\n
On the trade front, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that India could lose access to the American market if it does not start buying corn from the U.S. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Axios in an interview, Lutnick threatened that New Delhi could face a “tough time” if it doesn’t bring down its tariffs.<\/p>\n
The benchmark S&P\/BSE Sensex ended the session up 313.02 points, or 0.38 percent, at 82,693.71, extending gains for a second day. <\/p>\n
The broader NSE Nifty index closed up 91.15 points, or 0.36 percent, to 25,330.25 while the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose 0.2 percent and half a percent, respectively. <\/p>\n
The market breadth was strong on the BSE, with 2,433 shares rising while 1,721 shares declined and 174 shares closed unchanged.<\/p>\n
State-run bank SBI jumped more than 3 percent after completing divestment of 13.19 percent stake in Yes Bank to Japan’s SMBC.<\/p>\n
Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Trent, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and BEL climbed 1-2 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n