GIFT Nifty indicates positive start for Sensex, Nifty; RIL, TCS, Paytm, Religare shares eyed

Indian share market is set to open higher on Friday, tracking positive closing at Wall Street overnight, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs but delayed their implementation, leaving room for further negotiations. The firm trend at Gift Nifty also indicates a positive start for Sensex and Nifty, with Gift Nifty futures trading 96.5 points, or 0.42%, higher at 23,192 level.

The market will assess the potential impact of U.S. government's reciprocal tariffs, tax rates imposed on imported goods in alignment to other countries, which was announced just hours before Trump was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House. In the meeting, the two leaders discussed trade relations, immigration, military sales, nuclear technology among other key issues, which are positive from the market perspective. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that U.S. and India bilateral trade will more than double to $500 billion by 2030 and the two countries will work to quickly start work on a trade agreement.

Domestic equities end flat ahead of PM Modi-Trump meet

On Thursday, the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty ended flat in choppy trade, paring early gains, as investors turned cautious ahead of highly anticipated meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump. Extending losses for the seventh straight session, the 30-share Sensex closed down by 32 points at 76,139, and the Nifty50 ended marginally lower by 14 points at 23,031. The broader market showed mixed trend, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index settling with a modest gain of 0.25%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed down by 0.37%. Among the Nifty constituents, 27 out of 50 stocks ended in red, led by Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which dropped up to 5%.

Wall Street snaps 3-day loss as Trump announces reciprocal tariffs

In the overnight trade, U.S. stocks ended higher while U.S. Treasury yields dipped after President Donald Trump unveiled a blueprint for charging reciprocal tariffs on trading partners but delayed their implementation. The sentiment was further lifted after January's Producer Price Index (PPI) showed wholesale inflation remain sticky, but key elements in the core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred targeted inflation measure, were benign or lower, raising hopes that the interest cycle might be cooler than anticipated. The data came a day after hot consumer inflation print, which showed consumer price index (CPI) spiked to 3% in January, denting hopes for an interest rate cut. At the close, the S&P 500 was up 1.04%, registering its largest one-day gain in a month, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.77%. The Nasdaq Composite ended 1.50% higher.

U.S. tariff delays lift Asian stocks

Equity markets in Asia-Pacific region witnessed positive trading on Friday as investors reacted positively to a delay in reciprocal U.S. tariffs amid hopes of negotiations. The U.S. 10-year yield, a gauge that tracks the dollar against its developed-market peers, dropped nine basis points after the PPI data with potential dovish implications for Fed officials improved appetite for equities. Australian market ASX 200 ended 0.5% higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Sang and South Korea’s KOSPI surged 1.3% and 0.35% respectively. Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite was also up by 0.7%. On the other hand, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s Shanghai Composite fell in the range of 0.1-0.4%. Among others, Taiwan’s Weighted stock index dropped 0.6%, and Singapore’s Straits Times fell 0.25%.

Stocks to watch

Q3 results: Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Easy Trip Planners, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceuticals, Samvardhana Motherson International, RateGain Travel Technologies, Swan Energy, Uflex, Zen Technologies and others will announce their December quarter results today. On the other hand, investors will react to Q3 results of Nazara Technologies, United Breweries, Hindalco, Afcons Infrastructure, and Godfrey Phillips.

Religare Enterprises: The NBFC has announced the appointment of Praveen Kumar Tripathi as chairperson till June-end as Rashmi Saluja ceased to be a director on the board effective Thursday.

Reliance Industries: RIL and The Walt Disney Company, JioStar, will launch JioHotstar, the combined streaming platform from Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.

Tata Consultancy Services: The IT major has signed an agreement with UPM to drive the end-to-end IT transformation of UPM.

UltraTech Cement: The Aditya Birla group company has commissioned an additional 0.6 mtpa slag-based grinding capacity at its existing unit in Karur, Tamil Nadu.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers: The board has approved fund-raising of up to Rs 1,500 crore via a rights issue.

Bank of Baroda: The PSU bank has received its board approval for raising of capital up to Rs 8,500 crore via QIP in suitable tranches up to March 2028 and beyond.

Paytm: A subsidiary of One 97 Communication, Paytm Money, has settled with the markets regulator SEBI in a case pertaining to an alleged violation of norms after paying a settlement amount of Rs 45.50 lakh.

Piramal Enterprises: The board has given nod to the issuance of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth up to Rs 75 crore, along with a green shoe option to retain oversubscription of up to Rs 375 crore, on a private placement basis.

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