Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply higher on Thursday as market participants turned optimistic after a decline in crude oil prices, which helped ease worries over rising input costs and inflation, leading to broad buying in frontline stocks. The rupee’s continued recovery against the US dollar, aided by RBI measures, further lent support to domestic equities.
Both the indices witnessed sharp upside momentum, with the Sensex outperforming the Nifty. The Sensex gained over 2%, while the Nifty was up over 1.50%, supported by a resurgence in IT stocks following strong Q2 earnings from leading IT companies. Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries were among the top performers in the Sensex index.
Some of the important factors in trade:
India-US trade deal negotiations heading towards ‘landing point’: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that negotiations on the India-US trade deal were heading towards a ‘landing point’, with officials from both countries working to iron out outstanding issues.
RBI measures aim to ensure orderly forex market movement, curb speculation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that recent RBI measures, including the creation of a special dollar window for oil marketing companies (OMCs), aim to ensure orderly movements in the foreign exchange market and curb undue speculative activity.
India-China trade gap widens further in first nine months of 2026: India's trade imbalance with China continued to deepen, with the deficit widening 20.7 per cent year-on-year to $105.93 billion in the first nine months of this year (January-September 2026), crossing the $100 billion threshold.
Auto stocks remain in watch: The industry body -- Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has said that domestic passenger vehicle dispatches from companies to dealers grew 21.8 per cent year-on-year to 4.55 lakh units in September 2026 as compared to passenger vehicle dispatches of 3.73 lakh units in September 2025.
Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green even as data from Eurostat showed the euro area industrial production declined for the third straight month in August. Asian markets settled lower, with AI and semiconductor stocks coming under heavy selling pressure on concerns about the sustainability of the artificial-intelligence trade.
Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1533.72 points or 2.11% to 74,315.61 and the CNX Nifty was up by 374.65 points or 1.66% to 22,997.35.
The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 74,330.29 and 72,896.38, respectively. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were TECK up by 2.09%, IT up by 1.51%, Auto up by 1.47%, Oil & Gas up by 1.46% and Energy up by 1.41%, while Capital Goods down by 2.44%, Power down by 1.84%, Industrials down by 1.62%, FMCG down by 0.82% and Utilities down by 0.61% were the top losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 4.61%, ICICI Bank up by 4.17%, Reliance Industries up by 4.03%, Bharti Airtel up by 2.94% and Eternal up by 2.77%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 0.60%, Trent down by 0.58% and Hindustan Unilever down by 0.15% were the few losers.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that recent RBI measures, including the creation of a special dollar window for oil marketing companies (OMCs), aim to ensure orderly movements in the foreign exchange market and curb undue speculative activity. Recently, the RBI tightened rules governing forex derivative trades to curtail speculative bets against the rupee and asked banks to set aside a 20 per cent reserve for dollar purchases. The special window for three state-owned OMCs, which are among the largest consumers of dollars due to their crude oil import requirements, was introduced following an assessment of prevailing market conditions. The rupee has been appreciating against the US dollar since October 9, 2026.
Malhotra said the RBI is determined to do whatever is necessary to ensure orderly movements in the foreign exchange market. He said the primary objective of these measures is to maintain orderly conditions in the forex market. The reserve requirement was introduced in response to observations of excessive speculative positioning on the buy side. He added that the other major announcement was essentially a re-articulation of existing requirements, largely procedural in nature, concerning the documentation required.
He further said that domestic growth is performing well across all fronts. Banks are well-capitalised, profitable and growing, indicating that the banking sector is in good health. He noted that there are initial signs of corporate investment, with companies remaining profitable and earnings growth improving. Household balance sheets are also resilient and strong. Although household leverage has increased, balance sheets remain robust. Overall, he said India’s macroeconomic fundamentals and financial institutions are robust. He also emphasised the need to closely monitor evolving geopolitical headwinds and their potential impact on the Indian economy.
CNX Nifty touched high and low of 23,056.40 and 22,637.40, respectively. There were 41 stocks advancing against 8 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 4.75%, ICICI Bank up by 3.80%, Reliance Industries up by 3.44%, Bharti Airtel up by 3.31% and BSE up by 2.70%. On the flip side, Nestle India down by 7.76%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.83%, Trent down by 0.72%, Shriram Finance down by 0.65% and Bharat Electronics down by 0.51% were the top losers.
European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 54.8 points or 0.51% to 10,779.66 and France’s CAC rose 8.59 points or 0.11% to 7,881.70, while Germany’s DAX lost 108.51 points or 0.43% to 25,190.10.
Asian markets settled lower on Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi crashing over 8% and the Nikkei dropping more than 5% as the selloff in technology stocks intensified on mounting concerns over the sustainability of massive artificial intelligence investments. Market sentiment weakened further following Wall Street’s overnight fall as hotter-than-expected US CPI data increased the risks of further interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, investors shifted their focus to US PPI and retail sales data as well as speeches from Fed officials, including Chair Kevin Warsh later in the day for additional cues on the Fed's next move.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,707.48 | -59.75 | -1.59 |
Hang Seng | 24,062.72 | -251.45 | -1.03 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,863.78 | -79.24 | -1.35 |
KLSE Composite | 1,623.70 | -4.02 | -0.25 |
Nikkei 225 | 64,425.95 | -3,318.34 | -4.90 |
Straits Times | 5,403.50 | -19.83 | -0.37 |
KOSPI Composite | 5,554.22 | -454.59 | -7.57 |
Taiwan Weighted | 46,969.87 | -1,655.96 | -3.41 |
