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Informist, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Stocks of cigarette cos fall as new excise duty kicks in

 

MUMBAI--1052 IST--Shares of cigarette manufacturing companies such as ITC and Godfrey Phillips India continued to decline Monday after prices of cigarettes sharply rose, following the implementation of a new excise duty from Sunday. Brokerages have said that this increase will significantly raise the overall tax incidence on cigarettes, leading to a slowdown in demand, pressure on companies' margins, and a rise in illicit trade.

 

Under the new tax regime, excise duties on cigarettes have been set in the range of INR 2,050 to INR 8,500 per 1,000 cigarette sticks, along with a 40% GST rate, effective Sunday. Monday, shares of ITC fell over 2% to an over-four-year low of INR 302.85. The company's shares have lost around 13% in the past 30 days. On the existing retail price, Emkay Global Financial Services sees the tax payout per stick rising by over 50?ross King Size Filter Tip, Long Size Filter Tip, and Regular Size Filter Tip product categories and by 26% for the Deluxe Size Filter Tip category.

 

Additionally, shares of Godfrey Phillips India have declined over 15% in the past 30 days. Earlier in the session, the company's shares slumped almost 6% intraday to a near one-year low on the NSE.  (Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: Sundaram Finance up 2% ahead of Q3 results

 

MUMBAI--1005 IST--Shares of Sundaram Finance rose over 2% to a high of INR 5,069 ahead of its December quarter earnings. The bank is expected to report a significant year-on-year rise in its net profit for the quarter. However, the growth is expected to be slower on a sequential basis, according to brokerages.

 

The bank's net profit for the December quarter is expected to be INR 4.63 billion, indicating an on-year rise of around 33% and a sequential rise of 17%, according to Nirmal Bang Equities. Meanwhile, Prabhudas Lilladher expects the bank to report a net profit of INR 4.19 billion, indicating a 20% on-year rise and over 6% sequential rise. In the trailing quarter, the Bank had reported a net profit of INR 3.94 billion and its total income was INR 18.18 billion.

 

The bank's net interest income for the reporting quarter is expected to be INR 7.57 billion, up 18% on year and 6% on quarter, according to Nirmal Bang. On the other hand, Prabhudas Lilladher expects the company's net interest income to be INR 7.43 billion, up 16% on year and 4% on quarter.

 

The lender's net interest margin for the quarter is expected to rise 3-31 basis points on year for the December quarter and, on a sequential basis, it is likely to rise 5–12 bps, according to brokerage estimates. Net interest margin for the quarter is expected to be stable on the back of lower cost of funds, said Prabhudas Lilladher in its report. 

 

The company's assets under management are expected to rise to INR 578 billion, up 15.2% on year and 4.4% on quarter. Its AUM is expected to rise due to a pick-up in loan demand for passenger vehicles, Prabhudas Lilladher said. Its AUM was INR 502 billion in the year-ago quarter.

 

Of the three brokerage reports on the company available with Informist, one has an 'add' recommendation on the stock with a target price of INR 4,705 which is a little more than 7% lower than the current market price, two have a 'hold' recommendation on the stock with target prices of INR 5,207 and INR 5,000.  (Durgesh Nandan)

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Equity Alert: Benchmark indices swing between gains and losses in early trade

 

MUMBAI--1000 IST--Benchmark indices opened slightly lower after huge losses on Sunday, the day the Union Budget was presented. The Budget hit investors with a surprise, as the government has proposed to hike the securities transaction tax on futures and options trading, which is likely to dampen participation of foreign portfolio investors. However, after opening slightly lower, indices recovered and traded higher in the early session Monday.

 

At 0957 IST, the Nifty 50 was 24930.40 points, up 104.95 points or 0.4%, and the BSE Sensex was at 81176.63 points, up 453.69 points or 0.6%. Shares of Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank, were up 0.2-2.5% and provided the biggest support to the index while a fall in shares of Infosys, Shriram Finance and ITC, down 1-3%, limited the gains. Shares of Asian Paints were up 2.3% and were the highest gainers in the 50-stock index. Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Tata Consumer Products were also among the highest gainers, up around 2?ch.

 

The Nifty Infrastructure was the highest gaining sectoral index followed by Nifty Realty, up around 0.4-0.6%. Shares of Anant Raj, Lodha Developers, and Godrej Properties were the highest gainers in the Nifty Realty index, up 1-5%. Shares of Anant Raj, which has data centre manufacturing in its portfolio, continued to surge for a second session. This comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a tax holiday until 2047 for any foreign company that provides cloud services to global customers using data centre services from India. This is expected to increase foreign investment in the sector. "Sale of such services to Indian users shall be made through an Indian reseller entity and taxed appropriately," Sitharaman said. 

 

GMR Airports, Adani Green Energy, and BSE, up 3-4%, were among the top gainers in the Nifty 200. On the flip side, shares of Oil India, Godfrey Phillips India, and Bharat Dynamics were the worst performers in the 200-stock index, down around 4-5%. In the Nifty 500, shares of India Cements, Latent View Analytics, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals were among the best performers, up 5-7%. Latent View Analytics' consolidated net profit for the December quarter rose nearly 13% sequentially to INR 501.42 million and its revenue from operations rose 8% on quarter to INR 2.78 billion. On a yearly basis, the net profit rose almost 20% and revenue was up 22%. Shares of Intellect Design Arena and Reliance Infrastructure were the worst performers in the index down 7% and 5%, respectively. (Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: Mkts to move in range; STT hike likely to dampen FPI sentiment

 

MUMBAI--0841 IST--Benchmark indices are expected to be range-bound Monday after a sharp fall in the special trading session on Sunday. The fall came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a hike in the securities transaction tax on futures and options trading in her Union Budget for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). Analysts believe this hike may limit foreign investor participation in the domestic market and hit trading volumes for capital market companies. Shares of public sector defence and transport companies may also see weakness as the capital outlay for these were lower than expected.

 

The Gift Nifty contract suggests a subdued opening for the Nifty 50 index. At 0840 IST, the GIFT Nifty's February contract was at 24824.50 points, marginally lower than the Nifty 50's close of 24825.45 points on Sunday. The BSE Sensex closed at 80722.94 points, down over 1500 points or nearly 2%. The Nifty 50 is seen facing immediate resistance at 25000 points and finding support at 24500 points Monday, according to technical analysts. 

 

Metal stocks will also be in focus after a slump in prices of precious metals over the last few days. A selloff in gold and silver has led to a rout in exchange-traded funds of these metals and stocks of base metal, and precious metal companies. Some sectors such as information technology and healthcare were also impacted directly by Budget announcements. Stocks of these companies will be in focus after the finance minister said she plans to enhance and develop healthcare facilities in India. 

 

On Friday, US markets closed lower after US President Donald Trump nominated former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as the next US Fed chair. Warsh has been a long-standing supporter of higher interest rates, but has recently criticised the high interest rate regime of the current US Fed, according to media sources. Equity markets in Asia were mixed in early trade Monday as investors assessed private data on China's factory activity in January, while gold extended losses, CNBC reported.  (Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: Asian indices mixed; mkts asses Warsh nomination, China data

 

MUMBAI--0758 IST--Asian equity indices were mixed on Monday. This comes as investors in the region await private data from China and assess the possibility of interest rate cuts in the US following US President Donald Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh as the replacement for current US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Japanese indexes were higher as the country prepares for snap elections after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolved the lower house. 

 

Asian indices were mixed as the region awaits data on China's factory activity in January, CNBC reported. On Friday, US stock indices ended lower despite investors approving the nomination of Kevin Warsh to head the country's central bank. Oil prices fell almost 3% as Trump said over the weekend that Iran was "seriously talking" with the US administration, which could reduce the chances of a possible US strike on the West Asian country, Reuters reported.

 

Japan's Nikkei as well as Topix First Section indices were higher. This comes as opinion polls indicate that Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party is expected to secure more than 233 of the 465 seats needed for a majority. "A huge LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) win would further strengthen Takaichi's grip on power. It won't be surprising for markets to see a higher chance of Takaichi pursuing her flagship proactive fiscal policies, including a consumption tax cut," Keisuke Tsuruta, senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities was reported as saying.

 

Takaichi has been talking up the advantages of a weaker yen, saying "People say the weak yen is bad right now, but for export industries, it's a major opportunity," according to Reuters. "Whether it's selling food or automobiles, even though there were US tariffs, the weaker yen has served as a buffer. That has helped us tremendously," Takaichi added. However, she went on to soften her stance, claiming she did not favour a specific direction for the currency. "My intention was solely to state that we aim to build an economic structure that is resilient to exchange-rate fluctuation, and not, as some reports have suggested, to emphasise the benefits of a weak yen," she said.     

 

The Korean index opened lower and has fallen below the 5100 point benchmark for the first time since it crossed it on Jan. 28. Shares of Samsung were over 2% lower and those of SK Hynix were down over 4%. The country's stock market is expected to have been influenced by expectations that interest rate cuts in the US will be delayed following Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh, who is seen taking a 'hawkish' stance, an article from the Chosun said. During early trading, foreign investors were seen net selling shares worth 549.20 billion Korean won or $376.56 million, while domestic individual investors net bought 476.6 billion Korean won or $326.83 million worth of shares and institutional investors bought shares worth 62.10 billion or $42.59 million. 

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0752 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4711.35	0.11
Hang Seng Index	27046.47	(-)1.24
KOSPI	5094.36	(-)2.49
Nikkei 225 Day	53464.53	0.27
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3581.62	0.43
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	4905.25	0.00
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8784.90	(-)0.95
IDX Composite	8048.00	(-)0.38

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 91.69

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
RBI: Reserve Bank of India

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