Barometers drops in early trade; breadth weak
The Nifty traded below the 25,550 mark. IT, realty and media shares declined, while metal and oil & gas shares advanced.
At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 603.44 points or 0.72% to 82,691.22. The Nifty 50 index lost 178.28 points or 0.68% to 25,535.25.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index slipped 0.69% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.93%.
The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 963 shares rose and 2023 shares fell. A total of 184 shares were unchanged.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,483.70 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 1,292.24 crore in the Indian equity market on 23 February 2026, provisional data showed.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Bharti Airtel slipped 2.03%. The telecom major said that it will capitalise its NBFC arm, Airtel Money Limited, with Rs 20,000 crore over the next few years.
HUDCO (down 0.93%), Piramal Pharma (down 1.36%), Tata Technologies (down 2.12%) and Torrent Power (down 2.12) to be excluded from F&O
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has decided to exclude Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO), Piramal Pharma, Tata Technologies, and Torrent Power from the Futures & Options (F&O) segment with effect from 29 April 2026.
IDFC First Bank added 0.61%. The company said the recent volatility in its share price followed the detection of a Rs 590-crore fraud at its Chandigarh branch. The bank added that reports regarding government de-empanelment are part of the ordinary course of business.
Numbers to Track:
The yield on India?s 10-year benchmark federal paper was unchanged at 6.699%.
In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 90.9575 compared with its close of 90.8950 during the previous trading session.
MCX Gold futures for 2 April 2026 settlement declined 0.58% to Rs 160,668.
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.13% to 97.77.
The United States 10-year bond yield rose 0.47% to 4.045.
In the commodities market, Brent crude for April 2026 settlement gained 59 cents or 0.83% to $72.08 a barrel.
Global Markets:
Asian markets traded mixed on Tuesday as investors weighed renewed tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump and concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt software companies.
Trump posted on Truth Social Monday that any country that wants to ?play games? with the Supreme Court decision ?will be met with a much higher tariff.?
The comments followed a Supreme Court decision Friday striking down tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. In response, Trump said he would impose a 15% global tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act.
Investors in Asia were also assessing China?s loan prime rate (LPR) decision. China?s central bank on Tuesday kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged at 3% for the one-year LPR and 3.5% for the five-year LPR.
Overnight on Wall Street, U.S. equities tumbled on Monday as investors grappled with persistent fears around artificial intelligence disruptions to various industries and President Donald Trump?s decision to raise his global tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 821.91 points, or 1.66%, to close at 48,804.06, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 1.13% and ended at 22,627.27. The S&P 500 shed 1.04% and closed at 6,837.75, putting it into the red once again for 2026.
The 30-stock Dow was dragged down by IBM shares, which declined 13% on the heels of Anthropic outlining new programming capabilities for its Claude Code product.
Software stocks such as Microsoft and CrowdStrike were under pressure yet again as AI disruption worries hovered over the market. However, software hasn?t been the only sector to be hit due to AI fears recently: Stocks linked to trucking and logistics, commercial real estate and financial services have similarly suffered losses this month.
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