The key equity benchmarks traded with decent losses in mid-afternoon trade, following weak cues from Asian markets. This decline was driven by heightened concerns over a potential broader trade war, particularly after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. The Nifty traded below the 23,350 mark. FMCG shares declined after advancing for the previous three consecutive trading sessions.
At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 301.34 points or 0.39% to 77,208.88. The Nifty 50 index lost 117.90 points or 0.52% to 23,360.80.
The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.29% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.92%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,042 shares rose and 2,920 shares fell. A total of 162 shares were unchanged.
The Indian rupee hit a record low against the US dollar on Monday. The currency opened at 85.7000 and slipped further to 87.29 against the greenback in early trades, marking a decline of 67 paise from its previous close.
Economy:
India's forex reserves increased $5.574 billion to $629.557 billion in the week ended January 24, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday (January 31). In the previous reporting week, the overall kitty had dropped $1.888 billion to $623.983 billion.
Meanwhile, the budget announcement of zero tax for earnings up to Rs 12 lakh per annum and the rejig of tax slabs across the board should prompt more than 90% of individual taxpayers to embrace the new tax regime as compared to the about 75% as of now, CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal said on Sunday.
Agrawal said the government's and the Income-Tax Department's philosophy and approach is to ensure a non-intrusive tax administration in the country through an enhanced usage of artificial intelligence (AI) apart from the regular human intelligence gathering mechanism. The CBDT chief said the tax processes available to a common taxpayer for reporting their income were not very complex, giving examples of the simplified ITR-1, pre-filled income tax returns, automatic computation of tax deducted at source (TDS), etc. available to them.
The government has announced a Rs 47,000 crore disinvestment target for the fiscal year 2026, according to budget documents. However, the government has revised its disinvestment estimate for the current fiscal year (FY25) downward. Revised estimates now project proceeds of Rs 33,000 crore, lower than the initial budget estimate of Rs 50,000 crore. The government anticipates increased revenue from public sector dividends. Projections for FY26 indicate dividends of Rs 69,000 crore, exceeding both the FY25 budget estimate of Rs 56,260 crore and the revised estimate of Rs 55,000 crore. The projected FY26 figure also surpasses the Rs 65,381.65 crore collected in FY24.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a Rs 11.21 lakh crore capital expenditure (capex) target for the fiscal year 2026 during her budget presentation on Saturday. While the FY25 budget allocated Rs 11.1 lakh crore for capex, revised estimates project spending of only Rs 10.18 lakh crore, a shortfall of approximately Rs 93,000 crore. The revised estimate for the FY25 fiscal deficit stands at 4.8% of GDP. Sitharaman explained that the shortfall stemmed from the general election cycle, which effectively paused project implementation for two to three months.
Despite the current year's dip, the FY26 capex target represents a 10% increase compared to the budgeted figure for FY25. When including government grants to states, the total projected capex expenditure for FY26 rises to Rs 15.5 lakh crore.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty FMCG index lost 1.87% to 57,304.95. The index added 3.88% in the past three consecutive trading sessions.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) (down 4.37%), Godrej Consumer Products (down 3.63%), Marico (down 3.56%), Balrampur Chini Mills (down 3.55%), Tata Consumer Products (down 3.06%), Hindustan Unilever (down 2.79%), Britannia Industries (down 2.66%), United Breweries (down 2.56%), ITC (down 1.86%), and Radico Khaitan (down 1.69%) declined.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper was up 1.34% to 6.784 as compared with previous close 6.690.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 87.1050, compared with its close of 86.6200 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 4 April 2025 settlement rose 0.50% to Rs 82,380.
The US Dollar index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.1.10% to 109.56.
The United States 10-year bond yield shed 0.48% to 4.545.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2025 settlement added $1.08, or 1.43% to $76.75 a barrel.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Divi's Laboratories jumped 3.94% after the pharma major's consolidated net profit surged 64.53% to Rs 589 crore on 25.01% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 2,319 crore in Q3 FY25 over Q3 FY24.
Lupin fell 1.73%. The company has announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) has concluded the pre-approval inspection of the company's Edaravone Oral Suspension, located at its manufacturing facility in Somerset, New Jersey.
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