Key gauges end higher on firm global cues

Indian equity benchmarks rebounded sharply on Wednesday, gaining over half a percent on buying in Realty and Telecom shares, driven by a rally in Asian and European markets amid hopes of a rate cut by the US Federal Reserve later this month. Investor sentiment was also underpinned by a weaker dollar in international markets and falling oil prices. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

IMF raises India’s GDP forecast to 6.6% for FY26: International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised upwards India's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 6.6 per cent compared to its earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent on the back of strong growth, offsetting the impact of US tariffs on Indian shipments. 

Public sector banks’ credit growth outperforms private peers: Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju has said that the public sector banks have emerged stronger and more resilient, with credit growth outperforming their private peers in the recent past. 

India, Saudi Arabia to strengthen cooperation in chemicals & petrochemicals sector: India and Saudi Arabia have held a bilateral meeting with focus on enhancing bilateral cooperation, promoting investments, and exploring new areas of collaboration in the Chemicals and Petrochemicals sector.

Rupee recovers sharply against US Dollar: Indian rupee bounced back sharply against the US dollar, posting its biggest intraday gain in nearly four months, due to likely intervention by the RBI and a surge in the domestic markets. Moreover, a weak US Dollar and an overnight decline in crude oil prices also supported the rupee. 

Positive global cues: European markets were trading mostly in green as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's dovish comments, highlighting weakness in the U.S. job market, raised expectations for more interest-rate cuts. Asian markets settled mostly higher as optimism that the U.S Federal Reserve may go for further interest-rate cuts outweighed renewed U.S.-China trade tensions. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 575.45 points or 0.70% to 82,605.43 and the CNX Nifty was up by 178.05 points or 0.71% to 25,323.55.       

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,727.02 and 82,084.37 respectively. There were 22 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining, while 1 stock remained unchanged on the index.   

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.02%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 2.99%, Telecom up by 1.71%, PSU up by 1.23%, Consumer Durables up by 1.17% and Industrials up by 1.00%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 4.03%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.10%, Asian Paints up by 2.48%, Larsen & Toubro up by 2.23% and Trent up by 2.19%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 1.20%, Infosys down by 1.07%, Axis Bank down by 0.65%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.62% and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.24% were the top losers. 

Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) has revised upwards India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast by 20 basis points (bps) to 6.6 per cent for the current fiscal (FY26) compared to its earlier estimate of 6.4 per cent on the back of strong growth, offsetting the impact of US tariffs on Indian shipments. However, it lowered the growth forecast by 20 bps to 6.2 per cent for FY27. The Indian economy grew by 7.8 per cent in April-June -- the highest in five quarters -- before the disruptive US tariffs were imposed.

The report said ‘Compared with the July WEO Update, this is an upward revision for 2025, with carryover from a strong first quarter more than offsetting the increase in the US effective tariff rate on imports from India since July, and a downward revision for 2026’. In July, the IMF revised its forecast for India's economic growth to 6.4 per cent for both 2025 and 2026. In its April 2025 WEO, it had projected the country's economic growth at 6.2 per cent for 2025 and 6.3 per cent for 2026.

The IMF further said global growth is projected to slow from 3.3 per cent in 2024 to 3.2 per cent in 2025 and to 3.1 per cent in 2026. This is an improvement relative to the July WEO Update -- but cumulatively 0.2 percentage point below forecasts made before the policy shifts in the October 2024 WEO, with the slowdown reflecting headwinds from uncertainty and protectionism, even though the tariff shock is smaller than originally announced. For emerging market and developing economies, the IMF said the growth is projected to moderate from 4.3 per cent in 2024 to 4.2 per cent in 2025 and 4 per cent in 2026.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,365.15 and 25,159.35 respectively. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 4.07%, Nestle up by 3.98%, Bajaj Finserv up by 3.14%, Trent up by 2.64% and Asian Paints up by 2.54%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.04%, Bajaj Auto down by 0.96%, Tata Motors down by 0.90%, Tech Mahindra down by 0.89% and Tata Consumer Products down by 0.60% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading mostly in green; France’s CAC rose 186.88 points or 2.36% to 8,106.50 and Germany’s DAX gained 25.26 points or 0.1% to 24,262.20, while UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 55.92 points or 0.59% to 9,396.85.