First Trade: Sensex gains 530 points, Nifty at 23,501

Indian equities in Tuesday's trade (February 4) tracking postive Asian markets opened higher. At the start, the 30-share Sensex traded higher by 0.69 per cent or 529.59 points at 77,716.33, while the Nifty50 gained 0.6 per cent or 139.95 points to 23,501.

Broader markets, meanwhile, also showed resilience, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices gaining over 1 per cent each.

Sectorally, all the indices barring FMCG traded in the green, with metal, auto and PSU Bank indices leading the gains.

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From the Nifty pack, top gainers included stocks like Bharat Electronics, Hindalco, ONGC, Infosys and M&M, while top laggards in early trade were Power Grid Corporation, Britannia, HUL, Trent and Nestle.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, "After the global sell off in equity markets yesterday, there are positive signals today. The decision taken by Trump to temporarily freeze the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and start negotiations is a clear indication of President Trump’s strategy: That is, impose tariffs and then negotiate and strike a deal."

The same strategy is likely to be tried with China, too. It is important to understand that a full blown trade war will be damaging for the US,too, he added.

Technicals

Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services on the Nifty outlook said, "We had started yesterday with expectation of expecting, as momentum had slowed down. But, despite multiple downside attempts, the downside marker placed at 23190 stayed intact, encouraging us not to switch sides yet."

This would mean that we are still okay with playing the 23700-840 objectives, but we expect 23440 to resist, while inability to float above 23320 could take away the upside momentum, he added.

Asian markets

Asian stocks rebounded in Tuesday's early trade after the US President Donal Trump deferred trade tariffs on Canada as well as Mexico, easing market concerns to some extent. Nevertheless, cautious sentiment prevailed ahead of the impending tariffs on China.

The key MSCI Asia ex Japan index was up over 1 per cent at 571.21.