On Thursday, Indian share markets witnessed buying interest during closing hours and ended marginally higher.
The BSE Sensex closed higher by 60 points to end the day at 41,933. Nestle and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the top gainers.
While the broader NSE Nifty ended up by 13 points to end at 12,356.
Among BSE sectoral indices, realty stocks gained the most, followed by healthcare stocks and consumer durable stocks.
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Strides Pharma Science share price will be in focus today as the company's wholly owned subsidiary - Strides Pharma Global Pte, Singapore has received approval for Loratadine Softgel Capsules, 10 mg (OTC) from the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA).
Bharti Airtel share price will also be in focus today as the company has successfully raised funds through completion of qualified institutional placement (QIP) and pricing of foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs).
The company raised US$ 2 billion through the QIP route. The company issued 323.6 million equity shares at the price of Rs 445 per share.
Market participants will also track Blue Dart share price, TCS share price, and Reliance Industries share price as these companies are set to announce their Q3FY20 results later today.
You can also read our recently released Q3FY20 results: Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Bandhan Bank, Mindtree.
India's merchandise exports shrank 1.8% in December, falling for the fifth straight month, while the trade deficit narrowed to US$ 11.3 billion from a year ago, helped by lower oil imports.
Merchandise exports fell to US$ 27.4 billion in December compared with a year earlier, while imports were down 8.8% to US$ 38.6 billion.
India's trade deficit stood at US$ 14.5 billion in December 2018.
Imports declined by 8.8% to US$ 38.6 billion, bringing down the trade deficit to US$ 11.3 billion during the month under review.
The trade deficit during December 2018 was US$ 14.5 billion.
Oil imports contracted by 0.8% to US$ 10.7 billion, while gold imports dipped by about 4% to US$ 2.5 billion.
During April-December 2019-20, exports slipped 2% to US$ 239.3 billion, imports declined by 8.9% to US$ 357.4 billion, leaving a trade deficit of US$ 118.1 billion.
Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after the United States and China signed an eagerly awaited Phase 1 trade deal, giving some relief to markets.
However, gains were capped as the International Energy Agency said it expected oil production to outstrip demand.
In a reassuring note to the market, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said surging oil production from non-OPEC countries along with abundant global stocks will help the market weather political shocks such as the US-Iran stand-off.
The IEA also said it expected production to outstrip demand for crude from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) even if members comply fully with a pact with Russia and other non-OPEC allies to curb output.
Buying interest was also seen as US official data showed a much bigger than expected drop in crude oil inventories.
Oil inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels, compared with analyst expectations of a drop of 500,000 barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The United States on January 15 signed the first phase of a trade deal with China, which President Donald Trump described as historic, concluding more than a year of tough negotiations including several months of suspension of talks between the two largest economies of the world.
The agreement was signed by President Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, Politburo Member and Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China.
China will boost purchases of US goods and services by US$ 200 billion over two years in exchange for the rolling back of some tariffs under an initial trade deal signed by the world's two largest economies.
The Phase 1 deal canceled planned US tariffs on Chinese-made cellphones, toys and laptop computers and halved the tariff rate to 7.5% on about US$ 120 billion worth of other Chinese goods, including flat-panel televisions, Bluetooth headphones and footwear.
But it will leave in place 25% tariffs on a US$ 250-billion array of Chinese industrial goods and components used by US manufacturers, and China's retaliatory tariffs on over US$ 100 billion in US goods.
Reacting to this, global stock markets climbed to record highs after the deal was signed but later stalled on concerns it may not ease trade tensions for long, with numerous thorny issues still unresolved.
As per the economic schedule released by Vijay Bhambwani, editor of Weekly Cash Alerts, here are the important events due later today:
To know what's moving the Indian stock markets today, check out the most recent share market updates here.
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