Indian markets remain lackluster with heavy selling at utilities, power counters

In a highly volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks remained lackluster during early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading below their neutral lines, as investors remained concerned over the U.S.-Iran situation, with diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis encountering repeated setbacks. Heavy selling at Utilities, Power and Healthcare counters kept markets lower, while NTPC was among top losers on the BSE. Traders got cautious, amid a private report stating that India's CPI inflation is expected to rise by around 70 bps to 4.8 per cent with crude oil averaging USD 90/bbl in FY27. This projection comes as the ongoing conflict in West Asia and a downgraded domestic monsoon forecast introduce fresh challenges to India's macroeconomic trajectory.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even as the monetary base in Japan was down 12.2 percent on year in May, coming in at 575.763 trillion yen. That missed expectations for a decline of 9.5 percent following the 11.3 percent drop in April. Banknotes in circulation fell an annual 1.7 percent, while coins in circulation dropped 1.1 percent. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74163.58, down by 103.76 points or 0.14% after trading in a range of 73815.12 and 74290.48. There were 12 stocks advancing against 18 stocks declining on the index.

The few gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 4.31%, TECK up by 2.46% and Metal up by 0.14%, while Utilities down by 2.24%, Power down by 2.12%, Healthcare down by 1.19%, PSU down by 1.18% and Oil & Gas down by 1.04% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 6.49%, Infosys up by 5.94%, HCL Tech. up by 3.87%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.46% and Trent up by 1.17%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.82%, Power Grid down by 2.55%, Axis Bank down by 1.91%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.74% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Indicating that talks on the India-US trade agreement are in final stage, the Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India and US have finalised most elements of the first phase of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA), and negotiations are now focused on a few minor issues. He added that the US team is in India to hold talks on finalising the first phase of the BTA. The talk will focus on finalizing the legal text for the deal. The commerce ministry noted that two sides are proposed to finalise the details of the interim agreement and take forward the negotiations under the broader BTA on multiple areas, such as market access, non-tariff measures, customs and trade facilitation, investment promotion, and economic security alignment.

India and US had finalized framework of the first phase of the BTA or an interim trade agreement in February 7, 2026. Under this framework, the US had agreed to reduce tariffs on India to 18% from 50%. It had removed the 25% tariffs on Indian goods for buying Russian oil and was to cut the remaining 25% to 18% under the pact. However, the US Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs, which were imposed under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). This led to a uniform 10% tariff on all US trading partners, which ended India comparative advantage under the framework over its competitor countries.

In 2025-2026, the US was the second largest trading partner of India. During the period, the India’s exports to the US grew marginally by 0.92% to $87.3 billion during the last fiscal year. Further, India’s imports from US have increased 15.95% to $52.9 billion in 2025-2026. The country’s trade surplus with US declined to $34.4 billion in 2025-26 from $40.89 billion in 2024-25.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23332.00, down by 50.60 points or 0.22% after trading in a range of 23229.15 and 23375.95. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 6.53%, Infosys up by 6.00%, HCL Tech. up by 3.79%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.49% and Wipro up by 1.33%. On the flip side, NTPC down by 3.89%, Power Grid down by 2.52%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 2.13%, Axis Bank down by 1.98% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.81% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI increased 13.11 points or 0.15% to 8,801.49, Hang Seng advanced 553.82 points or 2.13% to 25,952.00, Shanghai Composite strengthened 17.36 points or 0.43% to 4,075.10, Taiwan Weighted added 219.4 points or 0.48% to 45,557.31, Jakarta Composite gained 87.84 points or 1.41% to 6,215.22 and Straits Times rose 46.38 points or 0.91% to 5,084.24, while  Nikkei 225 slipped 314.33 points or 0.47% to 66,620.00.