Tale of the Tape 

Good evening everyone. 

Nifty (+1.6%) and Sensex (+1.8%) were up big; posting their best single-day gain in over a month, after Trump delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Midcaps (+1.6%) and Smallcaps (+1.1%) jumped too. 355 stocks in the NSE 500 ended in the green.

FMCG (-0.3%) stocks saw profit booking but every other sector ended higher. Oil & Gas (+2.7%) and PSU Banks (+2.4%) gained the most.

What sectors and stocks should you be looking at after the Budget? Read our top story to get the lowdown.

Asian Paints (+3%) was up after a Q3 volume beat. Meanwhile, Tata Chemicals (-3%) fell after being hit by soda ash pricing pressures. More details below.

Mobikwik, NLC India and Gland Pharma saw big moves today. Check out their charts below.

Trent (-6%) was the top Nifty loser after Reliance re-launched Chinese competitor Shein in the Indian market.

Sombre listing. Dr Agarwal’s Health Care ended at Rs 400 p/sh; a little down from its IPO price of Rs 402 p/sh.

Adani Power was in focus after Jefferies initiated coverage on the stock; the brokerage sees a +30% upside from current levels.

Kalyan Jewellers India soared +12%. PS - the stock is up +28% over the last week, helped by solid Q3 numbers posted a few days ago.

Adani Ports (+4%) gained after reporting its highest-ever monthly cargo volumes in January.

Here are the closing prints:

Market
Maal Laav!

2025 has been an absolute WHIRLWIND so far. An insane Budget, Trump’s tariff war and incessant FII selling are keeping everyone on their toes. To help you navigate this madness, we’ve put together a quick cheat-sheet on how best to play this uncertainty.

What’s changing: Since 2014, India’s growth has been juiced up by GOI capex. This is why infra + PSU stocks saw a huge bull rally. But the trade-off for this was that social schemes + rural & urban consumption took a hit, made worse by the high taxes. The pendulum is now swinging the other way with the GOI hoping that tax cuts = greater consumption = greater private capex growth.

Go deeper: 2025 will be dominated by Trump’s trade policies, the RBI & Fed’s rate cuts and how the rupee & oil swings. While there is uncertainty, India VIX remains well below its long-term average. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow, but this is why experts recommend buying on dips! So where should you put your hard earned money? Here are Axis Securities’ top picks:

1) BFSI: Lenders escaped 2024 intact after a crackdown on unsecured lending. FYI - deposit growth is also looking healthy again after multiple quarters of weakness. Finally, experts say margins have bottomed out, and rate cuts will pave the way for future growth. Axis’s top picks here are ICICI Bank (+48% upside) and SBI (+34%).

2) Telecom: The sector has digested the first round of tariff hikes, with the results already showing on company balance sheets. Greater urban consumption will let users pay for more hikes in the future and also convince them to move from 4G to 5G services. Vodafone-Idea is also going nowhere, leaving the two biggies to split the pie between them. FYI - Bharti Airtel (+13%) is the top pick here.

3) Consumer discretionary: A no-brainer. Tax cuts only kick in next year, so it’ll be a few quarters for things to turn around here even as inflation remains a big question mark. But, once it does, it’ll move big and fast. Axis sees the big winners being Varun Beverages (+25%), Indian Hotels (+15%), and Hero Motocorp (+24%).

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Hola Amigos! Catch our latest conversation with Richa Arya, Founder of Emint. She shares her views on the Budget, which sectors she’s bullish on, adding gold to your portfolio and much more! Miss it at your expense.