Indian equity benchmarks made negative start on Thursday after the United States made significant revisions to its factsheet regarding the recently announced trade deal with India. Sensex and Nifty were trading lower in early deals amid fall in IT and technology stocks following sell-off in global tech due to the fresh concern about the disruption AI start-ups will have on established companies. Traders also avoided risky bids ahead of the release of the India’s consumer price inflation (CPI) data later in day. The government will publish a new inflation series today to reflect the changing spending patterns and give a better view of underlying price pressures. However, downside remained capped amid continued foreign fund inflows. On February 11, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 943.81 crore. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green with caution as traders awaiting Friday's US consumer price index report that may shed additional light on the outlook for rates. Meanwhile, a stronger-than-expected US monthly jobs growth in January pushed back expectations of near-term interest rate cuts by the US Fed. Besides, the Bank of Japan said producer prices in Japan were up 0.2 percent on month in January. Taiwan market is closed for the Lunar New Year holidays until February 23.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 83930.16, down by 303.48 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 83795.65 and 84061.62. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 0.15%, Capital Goods up by 0.13%, Power up by 0.10%, Metal up by 0.07% and Industrials up by 0.06%, while IT down by 3.81%, TECK down by 2.60%, Realty down by 1.18%, Healthcare down by 0.51% and Consumer Discretionary down by 0.49% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 1.27%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.80%, SBI up by 0.79%, Bajaj Finance up by 0.68% and NTPC up by 0.46%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 5.09%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.40%, TCS down by 4.14%, HCL Technologies down by 3.82% and Eternal down by 2.11% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department in its latest data has showed that net direct tax collection grew 9.40 per cent to Rs 19,43,743.97 crore till February 10, 2026 in the fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) as compared to Rs 17,76,728.11 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. The growth in next direct tax collection can be attribute to slower refunds and higher corporate tax mop-up.

As per the data, net corporate tax (CT) collection grew 14.50 per cent to Rs 889,752.90 crore in the reporting period over Rs 777,047.63 crore in the same period last year. Net Non-Corporate Tax (NCT) collection was Rs 10,03,385.52 crore in reporting period as compared to Rs 947,477.30 crore in the same period last year, a growth of 5.90 per cent. NCT includes taxes paid by individuals, Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs), Firms, Association of Persons (AoPs), Body of Individuals (BoIs), Local Authorities, Artificial Juridical Person. Net Securities Transaction Tax (STT) collection stood at Rs 50,279.17 crore between April 1 and February 10 of FY26, almost flat as compared to Rs 49,201.40 crore in the same period last year.

The data also showed that tax refund issuance nosedived 18.82 per cent to Rs 334,324.63 crore till February 10 of current fiscal year as compared to Rs 411,826.75 crore in the corresponding period of previous year. However, gross direct tax collection increased 4.09 per cent to Rs 22,78,068.60 crore till February 10 of this fiscal over Rs 2,188,554.86 crore in the same period last year. This includes gross CT and NCT mop-up of Rs 10,88,533.85 crore and Rs 11,38,897.14 crore, respectively. Meanwhile, in the Revised Estimates (RE) for current fiscal (2025-26), the government projected direct tax collection at Rs 24.84 lakh crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25854.70, down by 99.15 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 25822.30 and 25906.70. There were 18 stocks advancing against 32 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 1.39%, Eicher Motors up by 1.19%, Bharat Electronics up by 0.98%, SBI up by 0.86% and ONGC up by 0.66%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 4.69%, Tech Mahindra down by 4.25%, TCS down by 3.48%, HCL Technologies down by 3.40% and Wipro down by 3.19% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher; KOSPI surged 132.00 points or 2.41% to 5,486.49, Nikkei 225 rose 51.46 points or 0.09% to 57,702.00, Straits Times strengthened 31.93 points or 0.64% to 5,016.51 and Shanghai Composite added 5.07 points or 0.12% to 4,137.06. On the other hand, Hang Seng declined 252.38 points or 0.93% to 27,014.00 and Jakarta Composite fell 63.22 points or 0.77% to 8,227.75.