Saturday, March 07
Indian stock markets opened lower today, with Nifty50 and BSE Sensex experiencing declines. While IT stocks faced a sell-off due to automation fears, domestic consumption-driven sectors showed resilience. Analysts remain cautiously optimistic, awaiting FII buying trends and positive impacts from recent trade deals and budget announcements.
Precious metals experienced a sharp downturn on Thursday, reversing recent gains as futures faced significant selling pressure. Weak global sentiment and a stronger US dollar contributed to the decline. Silver futures on MCX plunged by 10%, while gold futures also saw a notable drop, erasing previous recovery.
Companies will now have to pay a 10% customs duty on machines which are largely imported from parts of Europe (primarily Italy, Spain and Romania for roasting and brewing machines) and China (for vending machines), industry executives said. The cost of machines vary depending on the model and the region of sourcing and therefore firms tend to have varied cost structures.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, discussing expanded bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including through the Quad. The talks covered trade, defense, critical minerals, and energy, following a recently finalized trade deal. Both leaders emphasized strengthening economic ties and ensuring a prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
Stock market recommendations: According to Mehul Kothari, DVP - Technical Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, the top stocks to buy today (February 4, 2026) are Indian Oil Corporation, Tata Elxsi, and IFCI. Let’s take a look:
Bilateral trade between India and China reached a record $155 billion in 2025, marking over 12% year-on-year growth. Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong highlighted this achievement, alongside support for India's BRICS presidency and a commitment to advancing the Global South's development agenda.
As a result, cereals, maize, soybean and genetically modified food may be kept out of the bilateral trade agreement, which has been in the works since last Feb. Goyal said that Modi had managed to secure a very good deal for India, which was better than what US had offered to some other competing countries. Indian and American officials are currently engaged in drafting a joint statement which is expected to be finalised in the next few days.
Most exporters spent early Tuesday with buyers discussing the way forward, especially with garment orders for the next season being finalised. “We are in talks with our buyers and they are very happy. The timing of the announcement has been very good as orders for the next season were being finalised. The future is looking very bright, and we need to build scale, focus on expansion and skilling to take advantage of it,” said Sudhir Sekhri of Trendsetters, an exporter of womenswear.
There are strong reasons why India and the US should have strong trade ties. Each has comparative advantages and they have complementarities that explained the hope that the first trade deal under Trump 2.0 will be with India. But, things went haywire for reasons not related to trade: India’s refusal to engage Trump’s claims on Operation Sindoor and the pressure on him domestically to appear tough on Moscow resulting a 25% secondary tariff for India’s purchase of Russian crude.
The feel-good rally that followed lifted sensex by nearly 4,200 points (5.2%) in early trades but soon profit booking at higher levels pulled it down a bit. After a steady session, sensex closed 2.5% up. On the NSE, Nifty too treaded a similar path and closed 639 points (2.6%) up at 25,728 points. According to A Balasubramanian, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, the announcements about the India-US trade deal removed a key overhang for Indian markets.
