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Tuesday,11-February-2025
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Sensex closes lower as smallcaps shine; investors eye RBI MPC meet, Delhi poll results

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Mumbai, Feb 5: The Indian stock market on Wednesday closed lower after a volatile trading session as investors remained cautious amid global uncertainties.

All eyes are now on the RBI monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting on February 7, which could announce a rate cut for the first time in the last five years, as well as the Delhi Assembly election results to be out on February 8.

The BSE Sensex declined by 312.53 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at 78,271.28 after fluctuating between an intra-day high of 78,735.41 and a low of 78,226.26.

The NSE Nifty ended 42.95 points lower at 23,696.30 after touching a high of 23,807.30 and a low of 23,680.45 during the day.

Several stocks provided support to the market, with Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank emerging as the top gainers. Their share prices increased between 0.4 per cent to 1.6 per cent during the session.

However, selling pressure was seen in Asian Paints, Nestle India, Titan Company, ITC, HUL, and L&T, with Asian Paints leading the decline with a 4 per cent drop.

The broader market performed better compared to the benchmark indices. The Nifty MidCap index rose by 1.13 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index saw a stronger gain of 1.99 per cent.

Most sectoral indices on the NSE ended in positive territory, except for Nifty FMCG, Realty, Auto, and Consumer Durable indices, which declined by up to 1.85 per cent.

On the other hand, buying interest was seen in PSU Bank, Metal, OMCs, and Media stocks, with these indices rising over 1 per cent each.

According to Aditya Gaggar of Progressive Shares, the markets opened strong but faced resistance around 23,800 levels and reversed.

Without a strong momentum, the Index moved between positive and negative before ending at 23,696.30 with a loss of 42.95 points. The Media and Energy sectors performed well, while the Realty and FMCG sectors saw a drop of more than 1.5 per cent, he mentioned.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, aligning with the budget’s objectives of stimulating economic activity while managing a prudent fiscal position.

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Stock market crashes over 1 pc as investors jittery over US tariff moves

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Mumbai, Feb 11: The Indian stock market on Tuesday continued its downward trend with both Sensex and Nifty ending the day in the red, as investors reacted negatively to the latest tariff measures by US President Donald Trump.

At the closing bell, the Sensex dropped by 1,018.20 points, or 1.32 per cent to close at 76,293.60. During the trading session, the index fluctuated between 77,387.28 at the day’s high and 76,030.59 at the low.

Similarly, the Nifty ended the session down by 309.80 points, or 1.32 per cent to settle at 23,071.80. The index touched a high of 23,390.05 but slipped to 22,986.65 at its lowest point of the day.

As the sell-off in the markets was widespread, 44 out of the 50 Nifty stocks closed the session in the red.

Leading the losses were Eicher Motors, Apollo Hospitals, Shriram Finance, Coal India and Bharat Electronics, which saw declines of up to 6.70 per cent.

On the other hand, only six stocks — Adani Enterprises, Trent, Grasim, Bharti Airtel, and Hindalco — managed to stay in positive territory, with gains of up to 0.76 per cent.

The selling pressure was not limited to large-cap stocks. Broader markets were hit even harder, with the Nifty Smallcap100 falling 3.45 per cent and the Nifty Midcap100 dropping 3.02 per cent.

Market experts believe that the uncertainty around US trade policies and the impact of tariffs on global trade have led to weak investor sentiment.

All sectoral indices on the NSE closed in negative territory amid the broad-based selling pressure in the market.

The Nifty PSU Bank, Auto, Healthcare, Realty, and Media indices saw the steepest declines, with losses extending up to 3.28 per cent.

Meanwhile, sectors like IT, FMCG, and consumer durables also struggled to end the session down by over 1 per cent each.

Meanwhile, the Indian Steel Association (ISA) has expressed deep concern over the US decision to impose tariffs on steel imports, urging the Indian government to push for the removal of long-standing anti-dumping and countervailing duties and to secure exemptions from these restrictive measures.

The latest tariff is expected to slash steel exports to the US by 85 per cent. These tariffs could lead to a massive steel surplus that will likely flood the Indian market, ISA warned.

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Coal demand in India projected to reach 1,755 MT by 2047

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New Delhi, Feb 10: The coal demand in India is projected to reach 1,462 million tonnes (MT) in 2030 and 1,755 MT by 2047, the government said on Monday.

With the fifth-largest geological coal reserves globally and as the second-largest consumer, coal continues to be an indispensable energy source, contributing to 55 per cent of the national energy mix.

Over the past decade, thermal power, predominantly fueled by coal, has consistently accounted for more than 74 per cent of the total power generation.

Despite commendable strides in promoting renewable energy sources, the sheer growth in electricity demand necessitates a continued reliance on thermal power, with projections indicating its share to be 55 per cent by 2030 and 27 per crnt by 2047, according to Ministry of Coal.

As per the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI), the coal sector registered the highest growth of 5.3 per cent in December 2024, reaching 215.1 points compared to 204.3 points in December 2023.

During April-December 2024, the coal industry index increased to 177.6 points from 167.2 points in the previous year, marking a 6.2 per cent growth—the highest among all core industries, according to the government data.

The Combined Index of Eight Core Industries showed an overall growth of 4.0 per cent in December 2024 compared to the previous year.

The index for April-December 2024 increased by 4.2 per cent over the same period in FY 2023-24, emphasising coal’s significant contribution to industrial expansion.

Additionally, the coal sector accounts for about 50 per cent of freight revenue for Indian Railways and provides direct employment to nearly 4.78 lakh individuals.

India’s coal production reached an all-time high of 997.82 million tonnes (MT) in FY 2023-24, marking a significant rise from 609.18 MT in FY 2014-15, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.64 per cent over the past decade.

In FY 2023-24 alone, production has surged by 11.71 per cent compared to the previous year.

A landmark policy reform came with the introduction of commercial coal mine auctions in 2020, encouraging private sector participation and modern technological adoption.

With the vesting of these mines, a total of 107 coal mines have been auctioned under commercial coal mine auctions, with a cumulative PRC of approximately 246.60 MTPA, generating estimated annual revenue of Rs 34,000 crore and employment for about 3,33,000 people.

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RBI desires to go extremely calibrated on future repo rate actions: Experts

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New Delhi, Feb 8: The monetary policy in India is easing since last few months and as rate cuts transmit with a lag, it makes sense to act with a forward-looking estimate if the monetary policy has to work its way on real economy, according to experts.

The October policy saw the stance getting changed to neutral (vs. withdrawal of accommodation). This was followed with 50bps of CRR reduction in December, plethora of liquidity supporting measures in January and now a 25bps of repo rate reduction in February 2025.

“We interpret the neutral stance as the RBI desire to go extremely calibrated on future repo rate actions, given the change in global dynamics, where the markets have significantly dialled down quantum of rate cuts by the US Fed in 2025,” said Mittal.

The fact that stance is neutral, it means that everything that transmit between now and April — Q3 FY25 GDP data, global dynamics, currency, crude, March heat waves — will matter.

“We are expecting 50bps of rate cutting cycle,” Mittal said, adding that liquidity will play much larger role.

In a big relief for banks, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced that the implementation of the proposed Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), as well as project financing norms, will be deferred by a year and will not be implemented before March 31, 2026.

“A key announcement for banks concerned the postponement of the LCR guidelines implementation, now scheduled for no earlier than April 1, 2026, and to be rolled out in a phased manner,” said Mittal.

Additionally, the RBI indicated that more time would be needed to finalise project financing norms and expected credit loss rules.

According to Ajay Kumar Srivastava, Managing Director and CEO, Indian Overseas Bank, with the inflation rate expected to moderate further in FY26 and GDP growth estimated at 6.7 per cent, “we believe this rate cut will provide a boost to the economy and stimulate investment and consumer demand, fostering overall economic momentum”.

“We also appreciate the RBI’s focus on enhancing digital security in the banking and payments system,” he added.

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