Barometers trade with limited losses; financial services shares slips

The key equity barometers continued to trade with modest losses in the mid-morning trade as investor sentiment weakened due to uncertainty about U.S. tariff policies and their possible impact on inflation. The Nifty traded below the 22,950 mark. Trading was volatile due to the weekly Nifty 50 F&O series expiry today.

Financial Services shares declined after advancing in the past three connective trading sessions.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 173.03 points or 0.24% to 75,757.23. The Nifty 50 index declined 27.80 points or 0.12% to 22,905.10.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.72% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 1.01%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,526 shares rose and 1,114 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Politics:

Rekha Gupta will be sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Delhi today at Ramlila Maidan. The oath will be administered by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other dignitaries in attendance.

Gupta, who won from the Shalimar Bagh seat, began her political career in 1992 with ABVP at Delhi University and later served as the General Secretary of BJP Mahila Morcha in Delhi. She secured victory over three-time AAP MLA Bandana Kumari by 29,595 votes. Her selection as CM came 10 days after BJP's landslide win in the Delhi Assembly elections, where the party secured 48 out of 70 seats, ending AAP's decade-long rule. The BJP has yet to announce its ministerial lineup.

Outgoing CM Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal have extended their best wishes. Rekha Gupta will be Delhi's fourth woman CM after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit, and Atishi.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Financial Services index shed 0.75% to 23,280.90. The index rose 0.41% in the past three trading sessions.

HDFC Bank (down 2.04%), SBI Cards & Payment Services (down 0.97%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 0.92%), Bajaj Finance (down 0.57%), ICICI Bank (down 0.53%) and HDFC Life Insurance Company (down 0.34%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Waaree Energies rallied 3.03% after the company announced that it had received an order from Khaba Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of Engie India, for the supply of solar modules totaling 362.5 MWp.

Trishakti Industries jumped 4.23% after the company has secured a significant contract from Jindal Stainless for supply of advanced heavy machines worth Rs 3.70 crore.

Orchid Pharma was locked in upper circuit of 5% after company completed an inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) at its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in Alathur, Tamil Nadu.

Global Markets:

US Dow Jones index futures were down 104 points, suggesting a weak opening for US equities.

Most Asian stocks declined on Thursday after the latest Federal Reserve minutes revealed a cautious stance on interest rate cuts, while former President Donald Trump called for new tariffs on key imports.

The minutes from the Fed's January meeting showed policymakers remained hesitant about lowering interest rates amid persistent inflation and economic uncertainty. Officials also discussed the possibility of pausing or slowing the balance-sheet runoff'known as quantitative tightening (QT)'until the ongoing debt-ceiling issue is resolved.

Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on automobile, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor imports, a move that could escalate global trade tensions. These tariffs'ultimately shouldered by U.S. importers'have raised fears of further inflationary pressure in the short term.

The People's Bank of China held the 1-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.1%, and the 5-year LPR at 3.6%. The one-year LPR influences corporate loans and most household loans in China, while the five-year LPR serves as a benchmark for mortgage rates.

Asian investors are eyeing several key data releases on Thursday, including Taiwan's export orders, Hong Kong's inflation figures.

Despite cautious signals from the Fed, U.S. indices managed mild gains on Wednesday. The S&P 500 inched up 0.2% to a record high of 6,144.09 points, while the NASDAQ Composite added 0.1%, closing at 20,057.25 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose 0.2%, settling at 44,627.46 points.

The Fed minutes reiterated concerns about stubborn inflation and policy uncertainty, suggesting that rate cuts are unlikely in the near term.

Palantir Technologies tumbled more than 4% in after-hours trading, extending an 11% loss from Wednesday's session. Other defense stocks, including Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp, also saw mild aftermarket declines following reports that Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth had instructed Pentagon leaders to prepare for annual budget cuts of at least 8% over the next five years.

Fresh U.S. economic data released Wednesday showed a slowdown in housing starts for January, as both single-family and multifamily home construction pulled back. Housing starts slumped 9.8% month-over-month to an annualized 1.366 million, down from December's 10-month high of 1.515 million.