Opening Bell : Benchmarks likely to open in green tracking overnight gains on Wall Street
Indian equity benchmarks are likely to open in green tracking overnight gains on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new reciprocal tariff plan, aiming to match levies imposed by other nations, but delayed any immediate action, raising the prospect for negotiations. On the economic data front, India will release its January wholesale price index (WPI) inflation later today,
Some of the key factors to be watched:
Govt will continue taking measures to ensure inflation doesn't hurt citizens: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will continue to take measures to check inflation and ensure that citizens are not burdened. The minister said the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) reduced to 4.31 per cent in January from 5.22 per cent in December and is moving towards the 4 per cent target given to the Reserve Bank of India.
US and India target $500 billion bilateral trade by 2030: Prime Minster Narendra Modi said the United States and India have set a target of doubling their bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 and will work on concluding a mutually beneficial trade agreement very soon.
Defense stocks will be in limelight: Trump said the United States will be increasing its military sales to India by billions of dollars and his administration is paving the way to provide India with F35 Stealth fighters.
Auto stocks will be in focus: data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) showed that the Indian auto industry has kick-started the year with strong showing in exports, as major segments, including passenger vehicles (PVs), two-wheelers (2Ws), and three-wheelers (3W), recorded double-digit growth in January.
There will be some reaction in coal industry stocks: Union minister G Kishan Reddy has said that since India's energy demand was growing rapidly, the government was working on augmenting the coal production to achieve the dream of Viksit Bharat.
On the global front: The US markets ended higher on Thursday lifted by gains in Nvidia, Apple and Tesla, after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a roadmap for charging reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday after US President Donald Trump signed a reciprocal tariffs plan but did not impose them immediately.
Back home, extending the losing streak to seventh day in a row, Indian equity benchmarks erased all of their early gains and ended flat with negative bias on Thursday as concerns over the escalating trade war, earnings slowdowns, and persistent foreign portfolio outflows weighed on market sentiment. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 32.11 points or 0.04% to 76,138.97, and the CNX Nifty was down by 13.85 points or 0.06% to 23,031.40.
Some of the important factors in trade:
FIIs continued to maintain their sell stand: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,969.30 crore on net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
India's industrial output slowed to 3.2% in December: India's industrial production growth slowed to 3.2 per cent in December 2024, mainly due to poor performance of mining and manufacturing sectors.
Retail inflation slowed to 4.31% in January: Retail inflation slowed to 4.31 per cent in January mainly due to lower food prices. The Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based retail inflation was 5.22 per cent in December, and 5.1 per cent in January 2024.
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