NIFTY50, SENSEX today: India-US trade deal, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on February 3

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to stage a gap-up opening on Tuesday, February 3, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad surged 1,147 points or 4.56% to 26,288 after India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will bring down reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to 18% from current 25%.

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong bounce back on Monday, February 2, as investors looked beyond hike in Securities Transaction Tax (STT) announced in Budget 2026-27 on Sunday and gave a thumbs up to higher capital expenditure spending for the upcoming fiscal year, analysts said.

The SENSEX rose as much as 1,009 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 25,108 led by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bharat Electronics.

India-US trade deal

India and the US agreed to a trade deal under which Washington will bring down reciprocal tariff on Indian goods to 18% from current 25%, US President Donald Trump said on Monday after a phone conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a much-awaited movie for India, United States lowered tariffs on Indian merchandise exports to US to 18% from 25% triggering an up move for Indian equities.

Market participants gave a thumbs up to the much-awaited deal as Nilesh Shah of Kotak AMC said that the deal removes a hanging sword over rupee, equity and rates market.

“India US trade deal has gone through ups and downs like a roller coaster. While devil is in the details, it removes a hanging sword over rupee, equity and rates market. Let us hope that it is a win-win deal for both the countries as they have lot to gain through cooperation,” said Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC, said.

United States President Donald Trump on his social media handle TruthSocial said, "Out of friendship and respect for Prime Minister Modi and, as per his request, effective immediately, we agreed to a Trade Deal between the United States and India, whereby the United States will charge a reduced Reciprocal Tariff, lowering it from 25% to 18%. They will likewise move forward to reduce their Tariffs and Non Tariff Barriers against the United States, to ZERO. The Prime Minister also committed to “BUY AMERICAN,” at a much higher level, in addition to over $500 BILLION DOLLARS of U.S. Energy, Technology, Agricultural, Coal, and many other products."

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher on Tuesday as investor sentiment turned optimistic after data showed that US factory activity grew for the first time in a year in January.

Japan's Nikkei rose 35, Hong Kong's hang Seng fell 0.3%, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 4.74% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.07%.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US markets ended higher on Monday as Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.05%, S&P 500 index advanced 0.54% and tech heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.56%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹1,832 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹2,446 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month purchased shares worth ₹1,906 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

Lower tariff barriers improve price competitiveness for Indian firms in the US market, which remains India’s largest export destination.

Over time, this could translate into better order inflows, margin stability, and higher capacity utilisation. Domestic manufacturing themes tied to global supply chain diversification also get reinforced.

The consolidated revenue for the just-ended quarter (Q3FY26) was ₹8,146 crore, up 7.9% year-on-year. The consolidated EBITDA stood at ₹4,509 crore, down 35.6% year-on-year, representing a margin of 55.3%.

The company, maker of Dulux paints, had posted a net profit of ₹108.6 crore in the corresponding October-December quarter a year ago, according to a regulatory filing from Akzo Nobel India Ltd (ANIL).

Net profit fell to ₹182.06 crore in the October-December quarter from ₹209.34 crore a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Total income rose to ₹5,779.65 crore from ₹5,031.85 crore in the year-ago period.

The civil aviation ministry on Monday shared data with the Rajya Sabha on the amount spent by domestic scheduled airlines towards compensation and facilitation of passengers in December and the total amount is little over ₹24 crore.

The amount pertains to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights.

IndiGo shelled out ₹22.68 crore while Air India Group -- Air India and Air India Express -- paid ₹74.61 lakh. SpiceJet and Akasa Air spent ₹40.09 lakh and ₹21.06 lakh, respectively, as per the data shared by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a written reply.

The company had reported a net loss of ₹53 crores during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, Tata Chemicals said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue from operations of the Tata Group company declined by 1.11% to ₹3,550 crore during the quarter under review compared with ₹3,590 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of ₹1,160.74 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said in a regulatory filing.

Trade setup

On technical charts, the index went into a weak trade setup after closing the 25,000 levels and the 200 EMA levels. After Tuesday’s sharp opening, the index is expected to cross all the near-term moving averages levels of 20, 50 and 200 EMA levels on daily charts. Experts believe that the sharp gap-up opening is expected to see high volatility, with swings on both sides of the trade.

On the options data front, 25,500 calls held the highest open interest, which are expected to see massive covering on Tuesday morning. On the other hand, 24,800 puts held the highest open interest for today’s expiry, indicating a strong support.