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Informist, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Indices inch higher on gains in heavyweights, energy cos

 

MUMBAI--0950 IST--Domestic benchmark indices opened lower but rose later, supported by gains in index heavyweight and energy stocks. The index heavyweights ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries rose over 1?ch, lending support to the Nifty 50 index. 

 

At 0948 IST, the Nifty 50 was at 25776.95 points, up 49.40 points, or 0.2% and the BSE Sensex was at 83796.95 points, up 57.82 points, or 0.1%. 

 

Oil and Natural Gas Corp. was the top gainer in the 50-stock index, up nearly 4%. Shares of NTPC, Coal India, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Power Grid Corp. of India rose 2?ch. In contrast, information technology shares were the worst hit in the index, with Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Wipro down 4-6%. 

 

Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Oil & Gas was the top gainer, up nearly 2%. The gains in the stock of Oil India supported the sectoral index. The stock was up nearly 5%. Nifty IT was the worst hit among the sectoral indices, down over 5%.   

 

Oil stocks rose, with shares of Oil India, Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum Corp. rising 2-4%.   

 

Exide Industries was the top gainer in the Nifty 200 index, up nearly 5%. Lloyds Metals and Energy was the top gainer among the Nifty 500 constituents, up over 13%. The stock rose after the company posted a twofold on-year growth in the company's bottom line to INR 10.47 billion. 

 

Hindustan Aeronautics was the worst hit in the Nifty 200, down over 6% and PCBL Chemical was down nearly 7% to be the worst hit in the Nifty 500 index. (Adhithya Aji)

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Equity Alert: Indices seen in range; investors seek clarity on US-India deal

 

MUMBAI--0844 IST--Headline indices are expected to be in a range Wednesday after a sharp rise in the previous session as the US and India agreed to a trade deal. Investors await official documents of the deal, which will provide clarity on the sectoral impact of some tariffs. Stocks of information technology companies will be in focus after a deep sell-off in US software stocks overnight.

 

Some trade uncertainty is seen in sectors such as agricultural and dairy products after US President Donald Trump said the tariffs on US agricultural goods would be zero. "New US-India deal will export more American farm products to India's massive market, lifting prices, and pumping cash into rural America," US secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins said on social media platform, X. Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India has ensured that the interests of sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy are protected in the trade deal with the US. 

 

Shares of IT majors will be in focus after a sharp fall in their American depositary receipts overnight. Infosys' ADR closed 5.5% lower and Wipro lost almost 5%. The sell-off emerged after artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic released a productivity tool for in-house lawyers, CNBC-TV 18 reported. Investors are concerned about artificial intelligence companies creating more competition for software makers.

 

The GIFT Nifty 50 indicates a marginally higher start for the Nifty 50. At 0844 IST, the February contract of Gift Nifty was at 25775.50 points, up 49 points from the Nifty 50's previous session close. On Tuesday, the Nifty 50 index closed at 25727.55 points, up 639.15 points, or 2.6% and the BSE Sensex closed at 83739.13, up 2072.67 points, or 2.5%. "Technically, after such a sharp gap-up move, markets typically undergo a phase of consolidation or attempt to partially fill the gap in the sessions ahead," Osho Krishnan, technical and derivative analyst at Angel One, said.

 

US indices closed sharply lower after most technology-related stocks declined, CNBC reported. A majority of the 'Magnificent Seven' companies ended lower. Software stocks continued to fall, with shares of ServiceNow and Salesforce falling around 7?ch. Meanwhile, Asian indices were mixed in early trade Wednesday as negative cues from US indices partially offset the optimism over the rising gold price.  (Eshitva Prakash)

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Equity Alert: Mkts in Asia mixed; KOSPI hits fresh high, regains 2300 points

 

MUMBAI--0824 IST--Indices in Asia were mixed for the session with the KOSPI hitting a fresh high yet again amid a tumultous month for the South Korean index. The index regained the 5,300-point level during the session. Data showed services activity in Japan expanded at its fastest in almost a year, led by growth in the overall private sector. The Nikkei fell after hitting a record high in the previous session. 

 

The S&P Global final Japan Services Purchasing Managers' Index climbed to 53.7 in January, marking its 10th consecutive month of growth. This was slightly higher than a flash reading which forecast a reading of 53.4, Reuters reported. Readings below 50 signify contraction in activity, while readings above 50 signify growth. Marketing campaigns along with new client wins helped new work in January to report the highest rise in four months for the services sector. Employment in the services sector maintained its growth trajectory albeit at a slower pace than in December. Cost pressures eased as input prices rose at their slowest pace in almost two years. However, selling price inflation jumped to its seven-month-high, with firms passing higher costs on to customers. "Business confidence for the next 12 months remained upbeat, supported by anticipation of company expansion, higher customer turnout and economic recovery," Reuters said. 

 

The South Korean index recovered after the 'Warsh Shock', the Chosun Daily reported. The index opened lower but extended its gains from the previous session and regained the 5300 level after three sessions. The KOSPI had plummeted over 5% in a single session after the announcement of Kevin Warsh's nomination to replace US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but was able to recover during the previous session. However, shares of SK Hynix were over 1% lower owing to weakness in technology stocks on Wall Street. Shares of Samsung were also trading slightly lower.

 

In Japan, shares of Nintendo fell nearly 11?spite the company being on track to deliver its target for its full-year sales forecast of 19 million units for the year ended Mar. 31 for its Switch 2 console, CNBC reported. Nintendo has so far sold 17.37 million units of the console, with 7 million sales recorded in the December quarter itself. The fall in the company's shares came amid investor concerns about whether the company would be impacted by an unprecedented surge in memory prices, which is a key component in consoles.

 

Following are the levels of key Asian indices at 0822 IST:

 

INDEX	LEVEL	CHANGE IN %
CSI 300 Index	4658.13	(-)0.04
Hang Seng Index	26739.8	(-)0.35
KOSPI	5325.69	0.71
Nikkei 225 Day	54391.58	(-)0.60
TOPIX FIRST SECTION	3650.75	0.13
FTSE Singapore Straits Times	4950.85	0.14
S&P/ASX 200 Index	8893.30	0.41
IDX Composite	8080.52	(-)0.52

 

(Akshat Saksena)

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Equity Alert: US indices end lower Tue; Walmart emerges as $1-trillion co 

 

MUMBAI--0744 IST--Equity indices in the US ended lower on Tuesday, with the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite ending over 1% lower. Shares of Palantir surged 7% during the session after the company's results beat expectations.

 

Walmart emerged as the first brick-and-mortar retailer to hit a valuation of $1 trillion, Reuters reported. This was after the stock rose due to growth in the digital business and acquisition of new customers, CNBC reported. Shares of the company ended nearly 3% higher on the tech-heavy index Tuesday.

 

Artificial intelligence companies NVIDIA and Microsoft ended nearly 3% lower, along with shares of Alphabet, which declined more than 1% ahead of its results on Wednesday. Amazon declined nearly 2% as well as markets wait for the company to report its results on Thursday. Investors are turning their attention towards software, data analytics, and professional services companies which are expected to face disruptions due to AI. This comes as AI developer Anthropic launched plug-in for its 'Claude Cowork' on Friday which automates tasks across legal sales, marketing, and data analytics, Reuters reported.

 

Shares of Thompson Reuters fell nearly 16%. "I think Anthropic came out with some plug-ins to tackle the legal space," Mike Archibald, a portfolio manager at AGF Investments in Toronto was reported as saying by Reuters. "Obviously, that's where Thomson Reuters generates a good chunk of their revenues. Sometimes the market just shoots first and asks questions later," he added. Shares of Salesforce, Datadog and Adobe fell around 7% each and those of Intuit fell around 11%. 

 

Healthcare stocks came under pressure as Novo Nordisk cautioned that it expected a significant fall in its annual sales. The company said its profits and sales could drop as much as 13% in 2026, with the heavy price pressure from US President Donald Trump fuelling competition in the weight loss market. "In 2026, Novo Nordisk will face pricing headwinds in an increasingly competitive market," CEO Mike Doustdar was reported by Reuters as saying in a statement. "However, we are very encouraged by the promising early uptake from the US launch of Wegovy pill, and we remain confident in our ability to drive volume growth over the coming years," he added. Shares of the company fell over 1%.  

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Tuesday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6917.81	(-)0.84
NASDAQ Composite	23255.19	(-)1.43
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49240.99	(-)0.34

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.42

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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