Here is our daily edition on ‘Markets Today‘ for 2nd February 2026, where we take a look at key headlines from Financial Markets across the globe, including the India-US trade deal announcement shaping investor sentiment, among others.
Alongside we take a look at the performance of the Indian Equity Market Indices – both broader and sector-wise, as investors and markets priced in the Union Budget for FY27. With that, we also take a look at the institutional trading activity, & the Wall Street.
Let’s get rolling..

THE DAILY MARKET WRAP

The Indian Markets closed higher after recovering post the Budget-day selloff in a volatile session on 2nd Februrary,2026. Tracking mixed global cues, the markets remained range-bound during the first-half of the session yesterday, while sustained buying helped the indices to recover and eventually close near the day’s high.

While overnight, on positive cues from the much-anticipated India-US trade deal, the Gift Nifty spiked close to 1000 points at one point, indicating a sharp rise in the markets today owing to short-squeezing. And the benchmark Indices opened higher today, with Nifty up ~700 pts while Sensex rose more than 2000 points (PS: at the time of writing) as institutional players rushed to buy and cover their near record-high short positions, driving the prices further higher amidst positive investor sentiment.

Finance Flashcards Newsroom

TOP HEADLINES

• Tariffs reduced from 25% to 18% as India-US announce trade deal

The US President Donald Trump spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and in a Truth Social post, announced a trade deal between Washington and New Delhi. This leads to lowering the reciprocal tariffs on India from 25% to 18%, and  New Delhi abolishing the tariffs and non-tariff barriers on imports from the United States. As per a report in Deccan Herald, Modi didn’t mention any trade deal in his post on social media, however the deal was confirmed by New Delhi’s envoy to Washington, D.C., Vinay Mohan Kwantra. This deal also means the additional 25% levy on Indian goods would be withdrawn, and the final tariff on imports from India would be reduced to 18%.

Trump had earlier accused India of helping Russian President Vladimir Putin of carrying the Russia-Ukraine war by continuing to purchase crude oil from Moscow. The US President also claimed that Modi had agreed to not only stop buying crude from Russia but also to import hydrocarbons in large quantities from the US, and potentially Venezuela, now under control of the United States.

PS: You can read more on the trade deal here

• STT hiked to deter speculation and not for revenue consideration: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

In an exclusive interview to Moneycontrol, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the increase in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) for futures and options segment in the Budget has not been done for revenue consideration, but to bring a deterrent for speculative trading. In the Union Budget presented on February 1, the government raised the STT (i.e. the Securities Transaction Tax) on Futures to 0.05% from the current 0.02% while for Options premium and exercise of options, it was raised to 0.15% from the present rate of 0.1% and 0.125%, respectively. The government’s decision to hike the STT has come under wide scrutiny from brokers and bigger institutional players, as well as on the social media.

However, Sitharaman indicated that the decision did not impact the larger market asserting “The market regulator will also do this, the institution will do its bit”. Alongside, in the first interview post Budget, the finance minister noted “There are people who, within India, are saying, India’s markets are overpriced. I’m not even getting into that debate. We are only touching on futures and options section of the market, cash is not even touched…, we have tried bringing in a deterrent where speculation exists”.

EQUITY MARKET RECAP

INDIAN INDICES

GLOBAL MARKETS

INDIAN MARKETS TODAY

• Indices-Benchmark and Broader

At close on Monday, Sensex was up 943.52 points or 1.17 percent at 81,666.46, and the Nifty was up 262.95 points or 1.06 percent at 25,088.40. While on early Tuesday, the Nifty was currently trading 3% higher while Sensex was up more than 2500 points.

Broader indices also staged a smart rebound from intraday lows on Monday as the Nifty Midcap climbed 1 percent and the Nifty Smallcap advanced 0.6 percent.

• Sector and Stock Movement

On the sectoral front, FMCG, metal, oil & gas, energy, infra, realty jumped 1-2%, while IT index shed 0.5%

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Consumer, Adani Ports, Power Grid, Bharat Electronics were among major gainers on the Nifty, while losers included Shriram Finance, Max Healthcare, Cipla, Axis Bank, Infosys. And more than 350 stocks hit 52-week lows, including Five-Star Business Finance, KEC International, Transformers and Rectifiers India, Poly Medicure, among others.

• Institutional Trading Activity

A day after net selling equities worth Rs 588 crore on the special Sunday session, the FIIs/FPIs continued to be the net sellers on Monday, offloading equities worth Rs 1832 crore. While the DIIs net bought shares worth Rs 2446 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Here’s a look at the Turnover in Markets Today..

That’s all in this edition of Markets Today. Be curious, we’ll keep serving..

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