Sensex, Nifty End Higher Despite Trade Concerns

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended Thursday's session higher despite heightened uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy.

U.S. President Donald Trump has ratcheted up transatlantic trade tensions by announcing a new 25-percent tariff on all auto imports.

In a late-night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump threatened to impose even steeper tariffs on the European Union and Canada if they collaborate to harm the U.S. economy.

Analysts said Trump's auto tariff threat will disrupt global trade and underpin local inflation.

On Wednesday, a Federal Reserve official warned that higher tariffs could push inflation expectations and prices higher in a consistent way that may require the Fed to consider tightening monetary policy down the road.

Domestic markets opened on a weak note but reversed course to end notably higher for the day, led by financials.

The focus was on the U.S.-India trade meet, which began on Wednesday and will conclude on Saturday. It involves negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex ended the session up 317.93 points, or 0.41 percent, at 77,606.43. The broader NSE Nifty index closed up 105.10 points, or 0.45 percent, at 23,591.95.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose half a percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

The market breadth was negative on the BSE, with 2,352 shares declining while 1,692 shares advanced and 87 shares closed unchanged.

Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj FinServ rallied 2-3 percent while Tata Motors slumped 5.6 percent and Sun Pharma dropped 1.4 percent amid Trump's tariff threats.