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EQUITY
Post Session: Quick Review
Feb-04-2026

Indian equity benchmarks ended marginally higher on Wednesday ahead of the RBI’s interest rate decision scheduled for February 6. After a negative start, the indices soon altered between red and green, weighed down by weakness in IT stocks. In the afternoon session, foreign fund inflows helped the markets add some gains but markets failed to hold the gains and ended flat with positive bias.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Foreign fund inflows: Some support came after exchange data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors took a U-turn from selling and purchased equities worth Rs 5,236.28 crore on Tuesday.

HSBC India Composite PMI rises to 58.4 in January: Sentiments remained upbeat after the HSBC India Composite PMI Output Index, which measures both manufacturing and services, rose to 58.4 in January from 57.8 in December.

India-China trade hits record $155 billion in 2025: Traders took note of the Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, stating that India-China bilateral trade reached a record high of $155 billion in 2025, registering year-on-year growth of over 12 percent.

On the global front: European equity markets were trading in green ahead of flash Eurozone CPI data due later in the day. Asian markets ended mostly in the green as China service sector growth improved in January, driven by stronger growth in new business.  

The BSE Sensex ended at 83817.69, up by 78.56 points or 0.09% after trading in a range of 83119.95 and 83947.53. There were 20 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index, while one stock remained unchanged. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.72%, Oil & Gas up by 2.37%, Consumer Durables up by 2.36%, Power up by 2.18% and Energy up by 1.91%, while IT down by 5.49%, TECK down by 3.71% and Healthcare down by 0.14% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 5.11%, Trent up by 5.02%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 2.61%, NTPC up by 2.31% and Power Grid Corp up by 2.22%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.24%, TCS down by 6.98%, HCL Technologies down by 4.43%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.20% and Axis Bank down by 1.21% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, after US President Donald Trump's decision to slash tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has expressed optimism that this move is a positive development for India as it will boost exports along with having found new markets where they will continue to operate.  

On Monday, Trump agreed to slash US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent in exchange for India lowering trade barriers as well as stopping its purchases of Russian oil and instead buying oil from the US and potentially Venezuela. On implementation, the deal would bring tariffs on India in line with most other Asian countries of around 15-19 per cent. Sitharaman said while the details of the agreement will be announced soon, the cut in tariffs is a ‘good auguring’ for exporters. She said taken together with the new markets exporters had tapped after becoming uncompetitive in the US, the ‘exports will pick up now’.

Trump's steep tariffs last year dented Indian exports by raising landed costs, squeezing exporter margins, and eroding competitiveness in the American market. Sectors such as steel, aluminium, textiles, engineering goods and some agricultural products were hit as higher duties led US buyers to shift orders to alternative suppliers.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25776.00, up by 48.45 points or 0.19% after trading in a range of 25563.95 and 25818.55. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 5.13%, Trent up by 4.96%, ONGC up by 3.87%, NTPC up by 2.43% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 2.42%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 7.26%, TCS down by 7.01%, HCL Technologies down by 4.34%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.15% and Wipro down by 3.85% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 100.61 points or 0.97% to 10,415.20, France’s CAC rose 53.8 points or 0.65% to 8,233.30 and Germany’s DAX gained 8.21 points or 0.03% to 24,789.00.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday, despite heightened geopolitical tensions after the US Navy shot down an Iranian drone headed toward an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Chinese shares gained as solar shares jumped after local media reported delegations sent by Elon Musk visited various companies in the sector days after Musk announced plans to build large-scale solar cell production in the United States. The South Korean Kospi hit a new peak on strong buying by institutional investors, who purchased a net 1.8 trillion won. However, Japanese shares tracked a tech-led selloff on Wall Street, with investors rotating out of richly valued technology shares and into more cyclical sectors.

Asian Indices

Last Trade            

Change in Points

Change in %      

Shanghai Composite

4,102.20

34.47

0.85

Hang Seng

26,847.32

12.55

0.05

Jakarta Composite

8,146.72

24.12

0.30

KLSE Composite

1,742.82

-5.44

-0.31

Nikkei 225

54,293.36

-427.30

-0.78

Straits Times

4,965.50

21.41

0.43

KOSPI Composite

5,371.10

83.02

1.57

Taiwan Weighted

32,289.81

94.45

0.29
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