Indian equity benchmarks made optimistic start on Monday tracking positive global cues following US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Trump’s tariffs. Sensex and Nifty were trading higher in early deals on account of buying in Metal and Power stocks. Some support came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India is working to expand the preferential trade agreement with South-American nation bloc Mercosur to further promote trade and investment between the two regions. Besides, India and Brazil signed an agreement to explore areas of mutual cooperation for the benefit of MSMEs and facilitate their access to green finance. However, upside remained capped amid selling in IT and TECK stocks. 

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court struck down sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. After this, Trump levied a 10% tariff on countries, including India, for 150 days following the court ruling, and a day later raised it to 15%. Following the court ruling and the fresh tariff announcement, India has reportedly delayed sending a trade team to Washington this week.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as the markets cheer the U.S. Supreme Court striking down most of US President Donald Trump's global tariffs saying the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Traders also kept a close eye on the evolving geopolitical situation involving the US and Iran.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83317.61, up by 502.90 points or 0.61% after trading in a range of 82906.83 and 83486.15. There were 24 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 0.84%, Power up by 0.77%, Auto up by 0.73%, Consumer discretionary up by 0.65% and Industrials up by 0.63%, while IT down by 0.51%, TECK down by 0.27%, Bankex down by 0.15% and Oil & Gas down by 0.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &Special up by 2.62%, Axis Bank up by 2.01%, HDFC Bank up by 1.17%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 1.10% and Hindustan Unilever up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Kwality Wall's (India) down by 1.41%, Infosys down by 1.10%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.37%, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.16% and NTPC down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA has estimated that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth likely to ease to 7.2% in third quarter of current fiscal year (Q3FY26) as compared to 8.2% in Q2FY26. It noted that robust performance in the industrial sector may be outweighed by slow growth in sectors such as services and agriculture. The growth in services sector likely to fell to 7.8% in Q3FY26 as against 9.2% in Q2FY26, and agriculture sector growth came down to 3.0% in Q3FY26 as against 3.5% in Q2FY26. However, the industrial sector growth picked up to a six-quarter high of 8.3% Q3FY26 from 7.7% in Q2FY26.

The rating agency has estimated that the Y-o-Y growth in the services gross value added (GVA) to moderate to 7.8% in Q3FY26 from 9.2% in Q2FY26, dampened by lower expansion in Government spending and services exports. The government’s capital expenditure dipped to Rs 2.1 trillion in Q3FY26 from Rs 3.1 trillion in Q2FY26. Notwithstanding a broadly favourable trend in kharif output, the GVA growth of agriculture, forestry and fishing may moderate in Q3FY26 (from growth of 6.6% in Q3FY25) relative to 3.5% recorded in Q2FY26 (4.1% in Q2FY25), particularly on account of the high base (this may undergo a change in the new series).

ICRA also pegged the industrial GVA growth to record a broad-based improvement to a six-quarter high of 8.3% in Q3FY26 from 7.7% in Q2FY26, supporting the overall expansion in the said quarter. ICRA has projected the manufacturing GVA to record a high-single digit growth in Q3FY26 (9.1% in Q2FY26). Among the other industrial sub-segments, mining output witnessed a Y-o-Y expansion of 3.8% in Q3FY26 after two consecutive quarters of contraction, partly reflecting the easing of disruptions caused by monsoons and unseasonal rainfall. Besides, construction-related indicators such as infrastructure/construction goods (10.7% in Q3FY26 against 11.6% in Q2FY26) also posted a healthy rise in output, suggesting that construction GVA growth likely remained robust in the Q3FY26 (7.2% in Q2FY26).

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25728.70, up by 157.45 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 25626.50 and 25771.45. There were 41 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.59%, Axis Bank up by 1.94%, SBI Life Insurance up by 1.72%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.65% and Nestle up by 1.50%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 2.17%, Kwality Wall's (India) down by 1.66% Cipla down by 1.36%, Infosys down by 0.89% and Wipro down by 0.66% were the top losers.

Asian markets are trading mostly in green; Hang Seng surged 612.65 points or 2.27% to 27,026.00, Taiwan Weighted rose 408.67 points or 1.22% to 34,014.38, Jakarta Composite gained 106.59 points or 1.29% to 8,378.36, KOSPI increased 42.66 points or 0.73% to 5,851.19 and Straits Times rose 13.71 points or 0.27% to 5,031.31.