The key equity barometers slipped into the negative terrain and traded with small losses in morning trade. The Nifty traded near the 17,750 level. FMCG stocks snapped its five-day gaining streak. At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 79.9 points or 0.13% to 60,427. The Nifty 50 index lost 5.60 points or 0.03% to 17,759. In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.10%. The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,594 shares rose, and 1,567 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

The RBI policy review meeting began on 6 February and concludes on 8 February 2023. The central bank is projected to raise the repo rate but at a slower pace. In its December monetary policy committee meeting, the RBI raised the policy repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) to 6.25%.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,218.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,203.09 crore in the Indian equity market on 6 February, provisional data showed.

Results Today:

Bharti Airtel (up 0.22%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.02%), Ambuja Cements (up 3.57%), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 6.99%), Adani Green Energy (up 2.30%), NDTV (up 5%), Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (down 1.90%), Astral (down 1.11%), Barbeque-Nation Hospitality (up 0.17%), Bharat Dynamics (up 0.26%), Computer Age Management Services (down 0.37%), Deepak Nitrite (down 3.33%), Gujarat Fluorochemicals (up 0.15%), GSK Pharma (up 0.93%), Kalyan Jewellers India (down 0.42%), Motherson Sumi Wiring India (down 0.38%), Navin Fluorine International (up 1.22), NHPC (up 0.24%), Phoenix Mills (down 0.81%), Ramco Cements (down 0.51%), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (down 0.64%), Sobha (up 0.93%) and Thermax (down 0.47%) will announce their quarterly earnings later today.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index declined 0.92% to 45,865.15. The index advanced 4.69% in past five trading sessions.

ITC (down 2.46%), Dabur India (down 1.85%), Emami (down 1.8%), Marico (down 1.4%), Hindustan Unilever (down 1.02%), Tata Consumer Products (down 0.83%), Nestle India (down 0.58%), Radico Khaitan (down 0.53%), United Spirits (down 0.51%) and Godrej Consumer Products (down 0.48%) declined.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Markolines Pavement Technologies jumped 9.56% after the company said its associate firm, UniqueUHPC Markolines, has received a Letter of Award ('LoA') for a construction project worth Rs 225.17 crore in Jammu & Kashmir.

Tata Steel tumbled 3.57% after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 2,502 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net profit of Rs 9,598 crore in Q3 FY22. Total revenue from operations during the quarter amounted to Rs 57,084 crore, down 6% YoY. The fall in revenues was primarily driven by drop in realisations across geographies.

Tejas Networks rallied 2.61% after the company reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 10.88 crore in Q3 FY23 as against a net loss of Rs 24.30 crore posted in Q3 FY22. Revenue from operations zoomed 156.4% to Rs 274.55 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2022 from Rs 107.06 crore recorded in the same period a year ago.