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Informist, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026

By Eshitva Prakash

MUMBAI – Benchmark indices ended slightly higher after staying lower for most of the session, helped by a rise in fast-moving consumer goods companies and select private banks. Information technology companies remained under pressure, tracking a decline in software companies globally. The equity market did not show any strong reaction to the announcement of the Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep repo rates unchanged at 5.25%. Most analysts had already said that the apex bank will hold its key rates. There weren't any statements in the Monetary Policy Committee's meeting that could impact equity markets in the near or medium-term, analysts said.

The Reserve Bank of India raised its GDP growth estimate for the June quarter of 2026-27 (Apr-Mar) to 6.9% from 6.7%, and that of the September quarter to 7.0% from 6.8%. The apex bank was able to pencil in higher growth numbers on the back of a reduction in tariffs following the India-US trade deal, analysts said.

The Nifty 50 settled at 25693.70 points, up 50.90 points or 0.2%, notching most of its gains in the last hour of trading. The BSE Sensex ended 0.4% higher at 83580.40 points. Cigarette producer ITC was the best performing constituent in headline indices and closed almost 5% higher. The company's peer, Godfrey Phillips India, was among the top gainers in the Nifty 200 index and closed over 10% higher.

Prices of cigarettes have increased from Feb. 1, after Parliament earlier approved the Central Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which raised concern about a fall in sales on higher cigarette duties. Price hikes have already started, but cigarette volumes may not see a double-digit decline next year as previously expected, NDTV Profit reported, citing Nuvama Institutional Equities. The brokerage has said that the worst is behind for cigarette stocks, according to the report.

Another fast-moving consumer goods company, Hindustan Unilever, ended nearly 3% higher. Nestle India and Tata Consumer Products also gained slightly. Barring Radico Khaitan, which fell 1.5%, all other constituents of the Nifty FMCG sector closed higher, with United Breweries, Patanjali Foods, and United Spirits closing with 1-3% gains. The sectoral index ended 2.3% higher. 

Other private banks such as ICICI Bank and Axis Bank ended around 1% higher each, supporting the 50-stock index. Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank ended over 3% higher. Kotak Mahindra Bank and Fairfax Financial are set to submit financial bids separately for a majority stake in IDBI Bank along with supporting documents on Friday, The Economic Times reported. Shares of IDBI Bank ended nearly 4% higher.

The purchase of IDBI Bank's stakes will be a positive for Kotak Mahindra Bank and while synergy benefits may take some time to pour in, cross-selling to customers will benefit IDBI Bank expand its footprint, said Sunny Aggrawal, head of research at SBI Capital Markets. Shares of Life Insurance Corp. of India, which owns a large chunk of IDBI Bank, ended over 7% higher. 

Information technology companies remained under pressure, tracking a decline in shares of IT companies globally. Shares of Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, and Tata Consultancy Services ended 1-2% lower. These stocks have lost 3–8% in the current week. Outside the Nifty 50, Tata Technologies, PB Fintech, Info Edge (India), and Oracle Financial Services Software closed 2-4% lower.

Shares of IT companies have been under pressure ever since Anthropic released new artificial intelligence plug-ins for low-level legal services work, stoking fears of sales loss for core software developers from AI-driven tools. Adding to the fears, US-based Palantir Technology's earnings call highlighted that the company is utilising its own AI tools instead of pay-per-seat software such as Workday and ServiceNow.

Among Nifty 200 stocks, Hitachi Energy India ended nearly 14% higher a day after the company reported that its bottom line in the December quarter nearly doubled on year. Brokerages expect performance for the company to improve further on the back of better operating margins and higher order inflow. Shares of 'Nykaa' owner FSN E-commerce Ventures ended over 7% higher after the company's consolidated net profit rose over two times on year and 84% on quarter to INR 633.10 million, beating analysts' estimates.

In the Nifty 500, shares of Poly Medicure closed 7.5% lower and those of BEML closed with over 7% losses. After market hours Thursday, Poly Medicure reported a near 17% fall in its consolidated net profit for the December quarter to INR 709.3 million. Additionally, BEML posted a net loss of INR 227 million in Oct-Dec, compared with an INR-247.7-million profit a year ago.

Broader market indices broke ranks with their benchmark peers, with the Nifty Smallcap 250 and the Nifty Midcap 150 closing in the red. Aavas Financiers, Aegis Vopak Terminals, and Aptus Value Housing Finance India were the worst hit smallcap stocks, closing 4-6% lower. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 19 rose and 31 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 13 rose and 27 fell

* On the NSE, 1,340 stocks rose, 1,779 fell, and 120 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,885 stocks rose, 2,309 fell, and 165 were unchanged

* NIFTY FMCG: up 2.3%; Nifty Consumer Durables: up 1%; NIFTY IT: down 2%

BSE                                                 NSE

Sensex: 83580.40, down 266.47 points or 0.3%        Nifty 50: 25693.70, up 50.90 points or 0.2%

End

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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