NIFTY DIPS BELOW 26,050 AS FII OUTFLOWS AND PROFIT BOOKING WEIGH

Domestic equity benchmarks slipped into the red on Tuesday, as profit booking in a holiday-shortened week and relentless FII selling sapped investor confidence. The Nifty closed below the 26,050 mark, pulled down by losses in IT and auto stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 367.25 points or 0.43% to 85,041.45. The Nifty 50 index lost 99.80 points or 0.38% to 26,042.30.

Bajaj Finance (down 1.3%), ICICI Bank (down 0.65%) and HDFC Bank (down 0.52%) were major drags today.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.18% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.34%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,745 shares rose and 2,456 shares fell. A total of 186 shares were unchanged.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India`s 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.44% to 6.567 as compared with the previous close of 6.538.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 89.8200 compared with its close of 89.7100 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 February 2025 settlement gained 0.99% to Rs 1,39,467.

Silver prices continued rising and hit another high after notching a record Wednesday. Spot silver rose more than 4% on Friday to reach an all-time high of $74.89 per ounce.

Silver has rallied over 159% year to date. Metal prices have soared this year amid shaky investor sentiment on riskier assets, as fears of an AI bubble and uncertainty over U.S. Fed rate cuts mount.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback`s value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.04% to 97.71.

The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.51% to 4.151.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for February 2025 settlement added 13 cents or 0.21% to $61.95 a barrel.

Global Markets:

European market remained closed on Friday on account of the Boxing Day holiday, while Asian market ended mixed, with several regional exchanges shut for the holiday.

Meanwhile, core consumer prices in Tokyo rose 2.3% in December from a year earlier, according to government data Friday. The core CPI, which strips out volatile fresh food costs, remained above the Bank of Japan�s 2% target, reinforcing the case for more interest rate hikes.

The latest reading was below the 2.8% increase in November. Tokyo�s inflation numbers are widely considered to be a leading indicator of nationwide trends.

U.S. equity futures ticked slightly higher in early Asian hours, after the S&P 500 closed at a new record for the second straight day on Wednesday stateside.

The broad market index advanced 0.32%, ending the session at 6,932.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 288.75 points, or 0.60%, and also posted a closing record of 48,731.16. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.22% and settled at 23,613.31.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Railway stocks rallied sharply on Friday as renewed optimism ahead of Union Budget 2026 sparked fresh buying interest across the sector.

Rail Vikas Nigam surged 12.22%, while RailTel Corporation of India 6.03%. Indian Railway Finance Corporation advanced 9.92%. Manufacturing-linked names also gained, with Titagarh Rail Systems rising 4.96% and Texmaco Rail & Engineering up 4.59%.

RITES rose 4.10% and Ircon International gained 4.87%. Among other stocks, Jupiter Wagons climbed 2.07%, while Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation advanced 3.72%.

Market participants are positioning for higher government capital expenditure on rail infrastructure, rolling stock expansion and network modernisation, a trend that has historically supported railway-linked stocks in the run-up to the Budget.

Panacea Biotec surged 13.54% after it received an award from the United Nations International Children�s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for the supply of its WHO pre-qualified pentavalent vaccine, Easyfive-TT, for 2023�2027.

Vikran Engineering rose 4.40% after securing an order worth Rs 459.20 crore from NTPC Renewable Energy for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of a 400 MW AC solar power project at Chitrakoot-1 in Uttar Pradesh.

Strides Pharma Science slipped 2.71% after its step-down subsidiary, Strides Pharma Inc. USA (SPI), received four observations from the USFDA following a routine inspection of its formulations facility in Chestnut Ridge, New York.

Apollo Micro Systems climbed 1.71% after the company received orders amounting to Rs 100.24 crore from a private company for the supply of Unmanned Aerial Systems.

NMDC advanced 1.51% after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Colorado School of Mines, USA, to establish a framework for research collaboration in mining, mineral processing, metallurgy, and AI/ML in mining.

Ola Electric Mobility jumped 2.32% after its subsidiary, Ola Electric Technology, secured incentives worth Rs 366.78 crore under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for automobiles and auto components (PLI-Auto) for FY25.

Lenskart Solutions shed 0.62%. The company said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Lenskart Solutions Pte. Ltd., Singapore, would invest 3 billion Korean Won for acquiring 123,945 preference shares or 29.24% of the share capital of iiNeer Corp., Ltd.

Dilip Buildcon rose 2.23% after the company announced that it has secured a letter of award (LOA) for a significant road construction project in Bihar.

Concord Control Systems fell 1.31%. The company, through its wholly owned subsidiary Advanced Rail Controls, secured an order worth Rs 56.58 crore from Indian Railways.

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