Domestic indices add more losses in late morning deals

Domestic equity indices added more losses in late morning deals on account of selling by funds and retail investors. Meanwhile, the broader markets were facing the heat of selling; the BSE mid-cap index dropped by 2.45 per cent and the small-cap index was down 2.97 per cent. Hectic selling in Power Grid, Zomato, Tata Motors, Indusind Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank dragged the markets lower. Rising crude oil prices and foreign outflows weighed on the domestic sentiments. FIIs net sold Indian equities worth Rs 2,463.72 crore on February 10. Traders took note of report that India's banking sector will need to raise $4 trillion in capital over the next two decades to support the country's goal of becoming a developed economy, or Viksit Bharat, by 2047. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as investors assessed U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign. Trump signed an order imposing 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum into the U.S. Back home, all the BSE sectoral indices were trading in red led by Realty, Healthcare, Industrials, Consumer Disc and PSU.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 76953.45, down by 358.35 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 76908.81 and 77387.28. There were 7 stocks advancing against 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index was down by 2.45%, while Small cap index down by 2.97%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.36%, Healthcare down by 2.33%, Industrials down by 2.20%, Consumer Disc down by 2.01% and PSU down by 1.97%, while there were no gainers.  

The top gainers on the Sensex were Infosys up by 0.92%, Bharti Airtel up by 0.63%, HCL Technologies up by 0.48%, Reliance Industries up by 0.13% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 0.12%. On the flip side, Zomato down by 4.95%, Power Grid down by 2.36%, Tata Motors down by 1.62%, Indusind Bank down by 1.54% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 1.35% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that the Centre has released about Rs 1.11 lakh crore loan to states during April-January under the scheme for special assistance to states for capital expenditure. In the 2024-25 Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked the allocations for interest-free loans to states for capital expenditure, enabling states to spend more on infrastructure and specified reforms. The allocation was hiked to Rs 1.5 lakh crore, up from disbursal of Rs 1.10 lakh crore made in 2023-24. 

Chaudhary said under the scheme for special assistance to states for capital expenditure, the Centre has approved loans worth Rs 1.22 lakh crore till January 31. Of this, about Rs 1.11 lakh crore has been released. He said out of the total allocation of Rs 1.50 lakh crore, an amount of Rs 55,000 crore under Part-I of the scheme is untied. This amount has been allocated to the states in proportion to their share of central taxes and duties as per the award of the 15th Finance Commission.

He said the remaining amount of Rs 95,000 crore is inter-alia earmarked for reforms in certain citizen centric areas and taking up sector specific projects like development of iconic tourist centres on global scale; incentive for scrapping of old vehicles; stimulating industrial growth. According to the data, the top beneficiary states so far in FY24 are Bihar (Rs 11,522 crore), followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs 10,795 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 10,166 crore), and West Bengal (Rs 9,729 crore). 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23259.80, down by 121.80 points or 0.52% after trading in a range of 23250.90 and 23390.05. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.12%, Grasim Industries up by 1.40%, Infosys up by 0.86%, Trent up by 0.60% and Bharti Airtel up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Apollo Hospital down by 6.60%, Eicher Motors down by 6.12%, Shriram Finance down by 3.19%, Power Grid down by 2.36% and SBI Life down by 2.29% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Hang Seng declined 91.5 points or 0.43% to 21,430.48, Jakarta Composite plunged 103.96 points or 1.59% to 6,544.18, Shanghai Composite weakened 6.7 points or 0.2% to 3,315.47 and Straits Times fell 20.27 points or 0.53% to 3,854.86. However, KOSPI increased 17.61 points or 0.69% to 2,538.88 and Taiwan Weighted added 131.91 points or 0.56% to 23,384.05.