
Stock recommendations for 2 February from MarketSmith India
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Stock market update: In a historic special Sunday session coinciding with the Union Budget 2026, Indian equity markets witnessed a volatile sell-off amid a hike in the securities transaction tax (STT) on derivatives, which dampened sentiment.
The Nifty 50 plunged 1.96% to settle at 24,825.45, while the S&P BSE Sensex crashed 1,546.84 points to end at 80,722.94. The advance-decline ratio skewed heavily in favour of bears, with only 6 Nifty 50 constituents ending in the green.
Sectorally, the Nifty PSU Bank and the Nifty Metal were the primary laggards, tumbling over 4% due to concerns over high government borrowing and falling global commodity prices. Conversely, IT stocks bucked the trend, gaining nearly 0.6%, following a supportive change in the taxation of share buybacks.
Despite the knee-jerk reaction to transaction costs, the underlying fiscal discipline and infra-focus in the budget provide a pragmatic long-term outlook for structural growth. Why it’s recommended: Strong play on 5G, fiberization, and digital infrastructure theme; beneficiary of government capex on telecom, broadband, and smart cities; presence across optical fiber, networking, and global telecom solutions; export exposure provides global growth opportunities; long-term demand visibility from data consumption and cloud expansion.
Read on livemint.com