Indian markets maintain trade in positive terrain

Indian equity benchmarks maintained their trade in positive terrain in early afternoon session, with both Sensex and Nifty holding notable gains, aided by heavy buying at PSU and Industrials counters along with positive cues from other Asian markets. Investors cheered a soft U.S. inflation print. Adding optimism among traders, the industry body PHDCCI said that India's economy is expected to become the fourth largest in the world by 2026, surpassing Japan, as it projected the nation's GDP to grow 6.8 per cent in the current financial year ending March and 7.7 per cent in FY26. Besides, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal has said that India today is known as the first responder to the Global South for its humanitarian initiatives in times of natural disasters, adding that Indian government is there for every person in distress within the country and in the world. That is true global leadership and that is the philosophy of India.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher, even after Bank of Korea unexpectedly maintained its key interest rate on Thursday despite political unrest intensifying downside risks to economic growth. After two back-to-back cuts, the Monetary Policy Board decided to hold the base rate at 3.00 percent, while markets widely expected a quarter-point reduction. Among seven board members, one member Shin Sung Hwan voted against the decision to leave the Base Rate unchanged, proposing to lower it by 25 basis points.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77016.26, up by 292.18 points or 0.38% after trading in a range of 76895.51 and 77319.50. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose by 0.86%, while Small cap index was up by 1.25%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were PSU up by 1.73%, Industrials up by 1.53%, Telecom up by 1.42%, Metal up by 1.41% and Realty up by 1.39%, while Consumer Durables down by 0.65%, FMCG down by 0.64%, IT down by 0.38% and TECK down by 0.03% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Indusind Bank up by 1.91%, Bajaj Finserv up by 1.79%, Tata Motors up by 1.72%, Adani Ports & SEZ up by 1.71% and NTPC up by 1.51%. On the flip side, HCL Tech down by 1.91%, Hindustan Unilever down by 1.35%, Nestle down by 1.30%, ITC down by 1.17% and Titan down by 1.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has said that India's organised jewellery industry is expected to witness revenue growth of 17 per cent in 2025-26 on wedding season and investment demand. The importance of gold in weddings, where it holds deep, sentimental, and cultural value, and as an adornment, will help largely maintain gold jewellery volumes, moreover, the investment demand is likely to be boosted by the prevailing global geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainty and the relative outperformance of the asset class. 

According to the report, organised jewellers' credit metrics in FY26 are expected to be supported by rising scale and absolute profit coupled with the adoption of a new model for expansion. In addition, improved funding availability will benefit the organised gems and jewellery industry, especially for players with high standards of corporate governance. It expects operating profit margins to be range-bound during the fiscal due to competitive pressures necessitating discounts, higher advertising spends to ensure customer acquisition and start-up costs for new stores. 

However, the report said as new stores ramp up and achieve breakeven, it will support the operating margin with better absorption of operating cost. Further, it said the expansion through franchise formats adopted by some players will result in improved credit metrics and help in deleveraging the balance sheets. It added that the increasing awareness among customers regarding hallmarked jewellery, growing reliance on trusted brands, and the ability of organised players to provide a variety of original designs have led to accelerated formalisation in the sector.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23310.15, up by 96.95 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 23272.05 and 23391.65. There were 30 stocks advancing against 20 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HDFC Life Insurance up by 8.14%, Shriram Finance up by 3.12%, SBI Life Insurance up by 3.09%, Bharat Electronics up by 3.01% and Hindalco up by 2.01%. On the flip side, Trent down by 2.63%, Tata Consumer Products down by 2.48%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 2.21%, HCL Tech down by 1.87% and Wipro down by 1.83% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading higher; Hang Seng advanced 222.15 points or 1.15% to 19,508.22, Jakarta Composite gained 81.08 points or 1.15% to 7,160.64, Shanghai Composite strengthened 8.11 points or 0.25% to 3,235.23, Straits Times rose 26.07 points or 0.69% to 3,798.65, KOSPI increased 30.68 points or 1.21% to 2,527.49, Nikkei 225 surged 128.02 points or 0.33% to 38,572.60 and Taiwan Weighted added 510.53 points or 2.22% to 23,025.10.