Key gauges snap 3-day losing streak; Nifty settles near 25,300 mark

Snapping 3-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks bounced back sharply and closed higher on Thursday tracking gains in global markets after US President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone on Greenland. However, gains remain capped as exchange data showed foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,787.66 crore on Wednesday.

Some of the important factors in trade:

December sees slight increase in retail inflation for farm & rural workers: A labour ministry has said that the year-on-year inflation rate for Agricultural Labourers (AL) and Rural Labourers (RL) stood at 0.04% and 0.11%, respectively, in December 2025, mainly due to firming up of certain food items. 

India to remain fastest growing major economy despite geopolitical risks: Citing the first advance estimates of real GDP growth for 2025-26, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin has said that India will remain the fastest growing major economy even with heighten geopolitical risks and policy uncertainty ahead.

NITI Aayog suggests setting up of national agency to implement green transition for MSMEs: NITI Aayog has recommended setting up a national project management agency to implement a programme for MSMEs' transition towards green energy, as India aims to reach net zero carbon emission goal by 2070. 

India to become world's third-largest economy over next few years: Expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the country will definitely become the world's third-largest economy over the next few years.

Global front: European markets were trading higher after U.S. President Donald Trump dropped planned tariffs on eight European countries and ruled out using force to take Greenland. Asian markets settled mostly higher amid easing geopolitical and trade tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled pausing proposed tariffs against eight European countries over Greenland ownership. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 397.74 points or 0.49% to 82,307.37 and the CNX Nifty was up by 132.40 points or 0.53% to 25,289.90.   

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,783.18 and 81,874.39 respectively. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.        

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.28%, while Small cap index was up by 1.13%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Capital Goods up by 2.03%, Industrials up by 1.78%, PSU up by 1.70%, Utilities up by 1.57% and Power up by 1.43%, while Realty down by 0.69% and Consumer Durables down by 0.43% were the few losing indices on BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 3.75%, Tata Steel up by 2.69%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.57%, SBI up by 1.95% and Bajaj Finserv up by 1.73%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.61%, Titan Company down by 1.50%, ICICI Bank down by 0.21%, Reliance Industries down by 0.15% and HDFC Bank down by 0.08% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over India’s growth prospects, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the country will definitely become the world's third-largest economy over the next few years. He noted that it is built on four pillars -- the pillar of public investment in physical, digital and social infrastructure, the pillar of making sure that the entire society grows with the growth of the country, that is inclusive growth, the pillar of manufacturing and innovation, and the fourth pillar of simplification. He added that all these put together with the technology platform, the country can achieve a real growth of 6-8 per cent with moderate 2-4 per cent inflation and nominal growth of 10-13 per cent in the next five years.

He said what is working really well is that in the last decade, there has been a transformational change in the country, and it's a very well thought-through, well-defined and a very focused execution. He said ‘What's really a matter of concern on our mind is the global debt, which is there in the rich world and how these mountains of debt will unravel and how that will impact. We saw in Japan a run on the bonds, and if those kinds of things happen on a large scale, it will be a matter of concern as to what would be the impact on our country’. He noted otherwise, everything else is in a proper shape that we will become the third largest economy in the coming years.

Regarding US’ high tariffs on India and its impact on growth, Vaishnaw said India is a very resilient economy with strong macro and micro fundamentals, and that has helped the country through this turbulent period. He added ‘Our producers are finding new markets, and our exports have actually increased despite high tariffs. We are expanding to new markets and also trying to find good and healthy trade agreements in the existing markets. In the last ten years, India has emerged as a very good value chain partner for the world’.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,435.75 and 25,168.50 respectively. There were 40 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.    

The top gainers on Nifty were Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 5.31%, Bharat Electronics up by 3.76%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.76%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.72% and Tata Steel up by 2.71%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 2.47%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.48%, Titan Company down by 1.40%, Eicher Motors down by 1.32% and Max Healthcare down by 0.47% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 64.88 points or 0.64% to 10,202.97, France’s CAC rose 88.13 points or 1.09% to 8,157.30 and Germany’s DAX gained 369.62 points or 1.5% to 24,930.60.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight amid easing geopolitical and trade tensions after US President Donald Trump called off proposed tariffs tied to Greenland, saying a framework has been formed with NATO for a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region. Hong Kong markets marginally rose, with property shares jumping 1.6% after the troubled developer China Vanke secured crucial approval from bondholders to postpone repayment of a major onshore bond, marking a key milestone in its urgent push to weather a deepening liquidity crunch and avoid default. Japan’s Nikkei average soared, led by a rally in semiconductor and artificial intelligence-related shares. Moreover, Seoul shares climbed amid continued optimism over AI-driven demand, even as South Korea's economy showed a contraction in the final quarter of 2025.