Bourses add losses in early afternoon session

Indian markets extended their losses in early afternoon session amid weekly F&O expiry and tariff related tensions. Besides, foreign fund outflows continued to dampen investors’ sentiments. As for broader indices, the BSE Mid cap index and Small cap index traded with hefty losses. Traders overlooked the report that IMF has increased India's Gross domestic product growth forecast for FY26 by 0.7 percentage point to 7.3 percent from its October projection. This upward revision is attributed to the better-than-expected outturn in the third quarter of the year and strong momentum in the fourth quarter. Sector wise, agriculture stocks remained in limelight as India’s wheat sowing touched a record of 33.41 million hectares in the 2025-26 rabi season, buoyed by good weather. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in red as China maintained its loan prime rates unchanged for the eighth straight session. The People's Bank of China kept its one-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.0 percent, as widely expected. Likewise, the five-year LPR, the benchmark for mortgage rates, was maintained at 3.50 percent. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82806.49, down by 439.69 points or 0.53% after trading in a range of 82794.00 and 83254.28. There were 4 stocks advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remained unchanged. 

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index declined 1.66%, while Small cap index was down by 1.77%.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty down by 3.57%, Consumer Disc down by 1.73%, Capital Goods down by 1.70%, Consumer Durables down by 1.66% and Industrials was down by 1.50%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Hindustan Unilever up by 0.54%, ICICI Bank up by 0.48%, HDFC Bank up by 0.47%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.28% and SBI up by 0.00%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 3.59%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.91%, Tech Mahindra down by 2.18%, Trent down by 2.15% and Interglobe Aviation down by 2.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have unveiled plans for a strategic defence partnership and finalized an LNG pact, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan set a target of $200 billion in annual trade by 2032 while outlining a broad agenda to strengthen bilateral ties. In 2024-25, the volume of two-way trade between the two sides was $100 billion. 

Within the framework of their defence partnership, India and the UAE are eyeing defence industrial collaboration and cooperation in advanced technologies, cyberspace training, special operations, interoperability of their militaries and counter terrorism. Another deal was finalized in which Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Gas will supply 0.5 million metric tonnes of LNG annually to Hindustan Petroleum Corporation over a ten-year span starting from 2028.

The UAE is India's second-largest supplier of LNG to India after Qatar. Further, both sides also decided to explore collaboration in advanced nuclear technologies, including the development of large nuclear reactors and small modular reactors, along with cooperation in advanced reactor systems, nuclear power plant operations and maintenance and nuclear safety.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25427.75, down by 157.75 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 25421.10 and 25585.00. There were 7 stocks advancing against 43 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.65%, Hindustan Unilever up by 0.52%, HDFC Bank up by 0.41%, ICICI Bank up by 0.39% and Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.23%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 3.63%, Bajaj Finance down by 2.76%, Coal India down by 2.53%, Wipro down by 2.46% and Tech Mahindra down by 2.21% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in red; Nikkei 225 slipped 466.57 points or 0.88% to 53,117.00, Hang Seng declined 86.9 points or 0.33% to 26,477.00, KOSPI dropped 18.91 points or 0.39% to 4,885.75, Straits Times fell 4.04 points or 0.08% to 4,830.84 and Shanghai Composite was down by 0.35 points or 0.01% to 4,113.65. On the flip side, Jakarta Composite gained 9.16 points or 0.1% to 9,143.03 and Taiwan Weighted was up by 120.7 points or 0.38% to 31,759.99.