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Below the Quote on Daily market commentary by Mr. Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd

Nifty ended on a flattish note at 23,696 (-0.2%), as markets turn cautious amid RBI’s monetary policy meet beginning today. The Rupee weakened to its all-time low of 87.35 against the U.S. dollar, pressured by expectations of a rate cut by the RBI. India’s Services PMI fell to 56.5 in January, its lowest since Nov’22 on the back of lower demand and a softer increase in sales and output. Benchmark indices were weighed down by weak support from heavyweight stocks and the escalating U.S.-China trade war. Broader market outperformed with Nifty Midcap100 and Smallcap100 gaining 0.7% and 1.9% respectively. Rate-sensitive sectors including Banking, Auto, Real estate remain in focus ahead of the RBI decision on Friday. After 23 consecutive sessions of net selling, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers in the Indian cash market on Tuesday, purchasing equities worth ?809 crore. The 3QFY25 earnings so far are in line with our modest expectations. As of 31st Jan’25, earnings of the 36 Nifty companies that have declared results so far, have inched up 1% YoY (vs. est. of +2% YoY). The modest earnings growth was driven by BFSI, with positive contributions from Technology, Real Estate, Healthcare, and Capital Goods. Conversely, earnings growth was dragged down by commodity sectors like Oil & Gas, Metals and Cement. Going ahead, investors will watch out for US Services PMI for January to be released later today and BOE’s interest rate decision tomorrow. We expect markets to remain range-bound with stock/sector specific action on the back Q3 earnings announcements as tomorrow will be a result-heavy day with several large-caps including Bharti Airtel, SBI, ITC, Trent, Brittania, BSE, Hero Motocorp amongst others announcing numbers

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