Domestic equity benchmarks, the Sensex and Nifty, opened on a firm note on Thursday, supported by robust domestic liquidity and easing foreign outflows.
Investor focus remained on quarterly earnings from major IT players, including Infosys, Wipro, and Eternal.
At 9:17 am, the BSE Sensex gained 393.87 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 82,999.30 after rising nearly 407 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty jumped 96.05 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 25,419.60, after hitting a day’s high of 25,425.70.
Among Sensex stocks, Axis Bank led the gainers, rising 3.17 per cent to Rs 1,206. Kotak Mahindra Bank shares gained 1.74 per cent, while Eternal, BEL and Trent rose 1.61 per cent, 0.69 per cent and 0.66 per cent, respectively.
Wall Street ended on a mixed note overnight, with two of the three major US indices closing higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.03 per cent to 46,253.31, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.40 per cent to 6,671.06, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.66 per cent to 22,670.08.
Asian markets traded mixed on Thursday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.87 per cent to 48,088.07, and South Korea’s KOSPI gained 1.85 per cent to 3,724.98. However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index edged lower by 0.48 per cent to 25,784.97.
On Tuesday, the Sensex jumped 575.45 points, or 0.70 per cent, to end at 82,605.43, while the Nifty50 advanced 178.05 points, or 0.71 per cent, to settle at 25,323.55.
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, said recent remarks from the US administration signal easing of India-US trade tensions and raise hopes of a trade deal in the coming weeks.
“China’s tough actions regarding the rare earth magnets have hit the US hard and, therefore, the US is keen on striking a deal with India with both countries making some concessions. Even though Indian macros are robust and GDP growth projection for FY26 is being revised up, India’s exports and jobs in labour intensive areas like textiles, gems and jewellery and leather products have been hit hard,” Vijayakumar said.
“In this context, a US-India trade deal will be a big boost to the markets. The low CPI inflation of 1.54% in September and the possibility of FY26 annual inflation declining to 2.6% open up the possibility of further rate cuts by the MPC. This, in turn, will boost the prospects of rate sensitives particularly automobiles, which are likely to experience sustained high demand for an extended period of time,” Vijayakumar added.