Equities close in green after US-China trade deal, metal stocks sink

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], Jan 16 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices traded extremely volatile on Thursday but closed in the positive terrain as global oil prices rose after the United States and China signed phase one of the trade agreement.
Brent was 45 cents or 0.7 per cent higher at 64.45 dollars a barrel while US crude was up by 39 cents at 58.20 dollars a barrel.
Under the deal to call a truce in a trade war between the world's two biggest economies, China committed to buying over 50 billion dollars more of US oil, liquefied natural gas and other energy products over two years.
At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 60 points to 41,933 while the Nifty 50 inched up by 13 points at 12,356. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty metal which dropped by 1.26 per cent.
Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service said the US-China pact could help boost bilateral exports and lead to an improvement in business confidence as well as investment.
"But the details of the agreement suggest that there remains considerable scope for friction between the two sides," said Michael Taylor, Managing Director of Moody's Investors Service Credit Strategy.
Among stocks, metal majors took a hit with JSW Steel down by 2 per cent at Rs 276.75 per share, Hindalco by 1.9 per cent and Tata Steel by 1.6 per cent. Auto majors Hero MotoCorp and Tata Motors also slipped by 1.6 per cent each.
The other prominent losers included NTPC, GAIL, Bharti Infratel, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Tech Mahindra.
But Eicher Motors climbed up by 4.3 per cent at Rs 21,509.05 per share while Nestle India gained by 3.4 per cent, Kotak Mahindra Bank by 1.6 per cent and Bharti Airtel by 1.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks inched ahead after the United States and China signed an initial deal to defuse their 18-month trade war, though financial markets were wary as several thorny issues remained unresolved.
Japan's Nikkei rose by 0.07 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng by 0.38 per cent and South Korea's Kospi by 0.77 per cent.
The disputes between the world's two largest economies have weighed on global economic growth and hampered investments. Analysts said the deal does not address structural economic issues that led to the full-blown conflict.
(ANI)