Mumbai. On Thursday, the first day of the year, BSE’s 30-share sensitive index Sensex, after being in the lead for almost the whole day, finally closed in the red on the first day of the year due to heavy selling pressure in FMCG company ITC. The government issued notifications late on Wednesday night imposing cess on pan masala and tobacco products and changing the GST rates. The new rates will be applicable from 01 February 2026. After the release of the notification, the shares of ITC, the country’s largest cigarette company, closed down by about 10 percent today. This is its lowest level since April 2023.
The Sensex fell 32 points (0.04 percent) to close at 85,188.60. The Nifty-50 index of the National Stock Exchange closed at 26,146.55 points with a gain of 16.95 points or 0.06 percent. Investors showed confidence in medium companies also, while they remained sellers in small companies. The FMCG sector index fell by more than three percent. Pharma, chemical and health groups also declined. Auto was up 1.03 percent on record-breaking sales figures. IT, metal, reality and banking groups also remained bullish.
Apart from ITC, Bajaj Finance shares fell by around one and a half percent in Sensex. Asian Paints, BEL and ICICI Bank also declined. Shares of NTPC and Eternal strengthened by more than two percent. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, L&T, Power Grid and Tata Steel rose between one and one and a half percent. Tech Mahindra, Indigo, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Adani Ports, HCL Technologies, TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Pharma, Trent, Reliance, Hindustan Unilever and Axis Bank were also among the gainers.
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