The Times of India

The Indian Rupee opened weaker on Wednesday. This followed a significant gain on Tuesday. The Rupee became the best performing Asian currency. This surge was due to a trade agreement reached between India and the United States. The deal is expected to boost foreign investment. This could further support the Rupee's stability.

Shares of major IT companies, including Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech and Persistent Systems, slid as much as 6 per cent in early trade. The negative sentiment mirrored weakness on Wall Street, where the technology-heavy benchmark Nasdaq declined 1.4 per cent, erasing nearly $300 billion in market capitalisation across the sector.

Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmarks, openedin red on Wednesday, a day after a strongly rally on the back of India-US trade deal announcement.

Stock market recommendations: According to Mehul Kothari, DVP - Technical Research, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, the top stocks to buy today (February 4, 2026) are Indian Oil Corporation, Tata Elxsi, and IFCI. Lets take a look:

External affairs minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, discussing expanded bilateral and multilateral cooperation, including through the Quad. The talks covered trade, defense, critical minerals, and energy, following a recently finalized trade deal. Both leaders emphasized strengthening economic ties and ensuring a prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Bilateral trade between India and China reached a record $155 billion in 2025, marking over 12% year-on-year growth. Chinese Ambassador Xu Feihong highlighted this achievement, alongside support for India's BRICS presidency and a commitment to advancing the Global South's development agenda.

As a result, cereals, maize, soybean and genetically modified food may be kept out of the bilateral trade agreement, which has been in the works since last Feb. Goyal said that Modi had managed to secure a very good deal for India, which was better than what US had offered to some other competing countries. Indian and American officials are currently engaged in drafting a joint statement which is expected to be finalised in the next few days.

Most exporters spent early Tuesday with buyers discussing the way forward, especially with garment orders for the next season being finalised. We are in talks with our buyers and they are very happy. The timing of the announcement has been very good as orders for the next season were being finalised. The future is looking very bright, and we need to build scale, focus on expansion and skilling to take advantage of it, said Sudhir Sekhri of Trendsetters, an exporter of womenswear.

With the US accounting for nearly 35% of Indias overall pharma shipments of over $30 billion in FY24-25, the move is expected to bolster growth prospects and pipeline visibility. A potential India-US trade deal offers long-awaited stability for the domestic pharma sector, which plays a critical role in supplying affordable medicines to the US, industry experts told TOI.

Textile and apparel exporters are now expecting an increased sourcing by global brands as India will now enjoy one of the lowest tariff regimes among major Asian manufacturing hubs, with a marginal advantage over competitors, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China. The tariff relief is expected to create a level-playing field, particularly for small and medium exporters in clusters such as Surat, Gurugram and Tirupur.

Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) said it expects shipments to rebound following the conclusion of the India-US trade deal and the reduction of tariffs to 18%. We are confident that with the conclusion of the trade deal and lowering of tariffs to 18%, the quantum of export of seafood from India to the US will show an increase and soon reach back to the previous levels, the association said. SEAI also welcomed the role played by govt in finalising the agreement.

There are strong reasons why India and the US should have strong trade ties. Each has comparative advantages and they have complementarities that explained the hope that the first trade deal under Trump 2.0 will be with India. But, things went haywire for reasons not related to trade: Indias refusal to engage Trumps claims on Operation Sindoor and the pressure on him domestically to appear tough on Moscow resulting a 25% secondary tariff for Indias purchase of Russian crude.

Peak XV, in a separate blog post, said it mutually decided to part ways with Agrawal, adding that Mittal and Sharma chose to join him. The firm did not disclose details of the new fund or its investment strategy. Together, the exits have thinned Peak XVs mid-generation leadership bench. Agrawal was part of the venture investing team and led several early bets, including Groww, alongside investments across fintech, education finance, healthcare, and SaaS.

The RBI cut rates in Dec after the MPC placed greater weight on inflation slipping below the lower bound of the flexible inflation targeting framework. With inflation now expected to move higher, including under the new base-year series to be released from Feb 12, economists see limited scope for further easing. Growth is also expected to slow and settle in the 6.7-7% range in FY27, close to the Economic Surveys estimate of potential growth at 7%.

Arvind Shrivastava, secretary, department of revenue, said the deal would deepen trade ties between 2 of the worlds largest economies. He said it would create fresh opportunities for Indias labour-intensive and manufacturing sectors in the US market, while also giving a push to collaboration in high and advanced technology areas and give impetus to mutually beneficial collaboration in high and advanced technology sectors, he said.

After Trump and Modi went public, officials have been engaged on the next steps. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday that a joint statement will be released shortly. Officials indicated that it should be ready in a few days, and will be followed by the vetting of the agreement before it is signed.

The Aug decision by US President Donald Trump to impose stiff tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil had stunned policymakers and exporters. Financial markets turned choppy and triggered unease about the trajectory of growth. But the economy remained resilient and growth momentum robust as it navigated the turbulent period.

The rupee jumped 124 paise to 90.27 against the dollar, its strongest single-day gain in seven years and the best since late 2018. The currency had closed at 91.51 in the previous session and has strengthened 165 paise over two days. The rebound followed a recent record low of 91.99, when corporate dollar hedging and concerns over capital outflows had weighed on the currency.

Within this landscape, Tata Steels Indian operations do not export to the US, though its UK unit does. In contrast, JSW Steel, with facilities in Ohio and Texas, produces steel locally, shielding it from import tariffs. Hindalco exports negligible aluminium and no copper from India to the US due to strong domestic demand.

So far in 2026, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have net sold stocks worth nearly Rs 35,000 crore in the Indian market. This comes on top of the Rs 1.7 lakh crore worth of stocks net offloaded in 2025. The sell-off, in turn, put pressure on the rupee. Despite strong central govt intervention, the rupee had depreciated over 6% since the start of 2025.

The feel-good rally that followed lifted sensex by nearly 4,200 points (5.2%) in early trades but soon profit booking at higher levels pulled it down a bit. After a steady session, sensex closed 2.5% up. On the NSE, Nifty too treaded a similar path and closed 639 points (2.6%) up at 25,728 points. According to A Balasubramanian, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, the announcements about the India-US trade deal removed a key overhang for Indian markets.

The UK govt did not conclude a bilateral investment treaty, or arrangements in relation to legal services, new market access for financial services, or final arrangements for mutual recognition of professional qualifications, and India did not get as much on the mobility issues as it would have liked, the report says.

Indian drugmakers anticipate significant benefits from the proposed India-US trade agreement, offering much-needed clarity and stability for the lucrative US pharmaceutical market. This development is expected to boost expansion plans and growth prospects for major companies like Sun Pharma and Dr. Reddy's, enhancing their competitive edge and strengthening India's role in global supply chains.

The US will reduce tariffs on most Indian goods to 18% from 50% as part of a new trade agreement, aiming to address the large trade deficit. India has agreed to cut tariffs on a range of US products, including industrial goods, wine, and spirits, to zero. Sensitive Indian agriculture and dairy sectors remain protected under the deal.

India will significantly reduce crude oil imports from Russia, adhering to a US-brokered trade deal that lowers tariffs on Indian goods. While existing contracts will be honored, new orders for Russian crude will cease, except for Nayara Energy due to its unique circumstances. This move aims to boost Indian exports and diversify energy sources.

India-US trade deal: Commerce Minister Piyush Goyals press conference on Tuesday also offered little details, though he was clear that sensitive sectors of agriculture and dairy will continue to be protected.

The Petitioner- woman and Respondent- man, both trained commercial pilots, were engaged on 07.03.2021. They claimed in their own words, instead of immediately performing marriage as per traditional Hindu ceremony, they obtained a marriage certificate dated 07.07.2021, from a private organization called Vadik Jankalyan Samiti (Regd.). And later, based on that certificate, obtained a certificate of registration of marriage in Uttar Pradesh as per rules.

At present, the precise terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Greater clarity is expected once the United States issues an executive order addressing the tariff changes, while the formal trade agreement text is likely to spell out which sectors fall under the arrangement.

According to MOFSL, this is a high-impact development and will have a multi-layered positive effect on the Indian economy, prevailing market sentiments, and sectors exporting to the US, which will benefit from better competitiveness. Key sectoral beneficiaries include Auto Ancillaries, Defence, Consumer, Textiles, EMS, Consumer Durables, IT Services, Financials (second-order beneficiary), and Utility companies.

Gold price prediction today: Gold prices may continue to be under pressure in the near term and high volatility is expected in silver prices, says Praveen Singh, Senior Fundamental Research Analyst- Currencies and Commodities at Mirae Asset Sharekhan. Heres his outlook on gold prices:

Rupee has been the worst performing Asian currency in the last year, with persistent selloff from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) causing the rupee to hit a new record low of 92 versus dollar a few weeks ago. Trump has announced that tariffs on India will be reduced to 18% with immediate effect.

Stock market today LIVE after India-US trade deal: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex soared in opening trade on Tuesday, reacting positively to the India-US trade deal announcement by US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The recently concluded India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks put pressure on the Donald Trump administration. In fact both India and the EU have termed the FTA a mother of all trade deals.

US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with India in which the US will bring down tariffs on Indian exports to 18%. Trump also made a series of claims related to the trade deal such as India agreeing to stop buying Russian crude

A day after presenting her ninth Budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke at length on a range of topics with TOIs Sidhartha and Surojit Gupta . While she is confident the domestic situation is under control, she feels her biggest challenge will be external