Indian markets advanced on Thursday, led by IT and metal stocks, as investors grew optimistic ahead of TCS earnings and a rebound in base metal prices. Sensex rose 398 points, while Nifty gained 136 points.
The Indian market advanced on Thursday, led by gains in IT and metal stocks. Investors turned optimistic ahead of Tata Consultancy Services’ quarterly earnings, while a rebound in base metal prices added momentum to the rally.
The S&P BSE Sensex rose 398.44 points, or 0.49%, to close at 82,172.10, and the NSE Nifty 50 gained 135.65 points, or 0.54%, to finish at 25,181.80.
The domestic market showed gains amid Q2 results, while metals indices outperformed, led by an uptick in base metal prices, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, adding that “the Q2FY26 earnings season is expected to be modest due to a muted expectation on sectors like finance and export oriented sectors like IT and pharma. However, the overall environment is forecast to reverse strongly in H2FY26, helped by a rebound in domestic demand.”
“Despite muted earnings expectations, the IT index moved higher as investors took comfort in attractive valuations — currently below long-term averages — and a constructive long-term outlook supported by signs of recovery in the US economy,” said Nair.
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Wall Street’s main indexes edged lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell offered no fresh policy signals, leaving investors to rely on older data to shape sentiment.
While markets have priced in aggressive interest rate cuts on hopes that the Fed will prioritize labor market support, minutes from the central bank’s September meeting released on Wednesday showed lingering inflation concerns.
Investors will also tune in to remarks from other Fed speakers, including Board Governor Michael Barr and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly.
The rally in European stocks paused on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 dragged down by banking shares, while investors weighed up the risk of a market correction.
The STOXX 600 was down 0.2% on the day at 1059 GMT and London’s FTSE 100 was also down 0.2%, hit by losses at HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group but partially offset by gains in mining and technology stocks.
The MSCI World Equity Index was up just 0.1% on the day .
The market resumed its upward momentum after a brief pause in the previous session, with the Nifty index forming a bullish candle on the daily chart, said Nilesh Jain, Head of Technical and Derivatives Research at Centrum Broking, adding that it took support at its 21-day moving average, near the 25,000 mark, but once again encountered resistance around the 25,200 level.
“A decisive breakout above 25,200 could open the door for a fresh leg of the rally, potentially triggering short-covering and a swift move towards 25,350. Momentum indicators and oscillators on the daily chart remain firmly in buy mode, suggesting that any dip is likely to attract buying interest. The immediate support has now shifted higher to 25,000, and as long as the index holds above this level, a move towards 25,400 in the October series appears likely,” said Jain.
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Hindustan Copper (Rs 951 crore), Tata Investment (Rs 595 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 594 crore), Netweb Technologies (Rs 568 crore), PG Electroplast (Rs 526 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 424 crore) and Prestige Estate (Rs 383 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.
Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 29.48 crore), Tata Steel (Traded shares: 3.36 crore), Hindustan Copper (Traded shares: 29.48 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 2.65 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 1.98 crore), SAIL (Traded shares: 1.27 crore) and Adani Power (Traded shares: 1.02 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.
Shares of PG Electroplast, Hindustan Copper, Jindal Saw, Gujarat Mineral Development, Usha Martin, Granules India and Aurobindo Pharma were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.
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Over 155 stocks hit their 52 week highs today while 149 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the ones which hit their 52 week highs included Tata Steel and Eternal.
Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Netweb Technologies, ITI Ltd, Hyundai Motor India, Jyoti CNC Automation, Redington, Orient Refractories and Ola Electric Mobility.
The market sentiments were neutral. Out of the 4,350 stocks that traded on the BSE on Thursday, 2,191 stocks witnessed declines, 2,009 saw advances, while 150 stocks remained unchanged.
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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
