A firm trade persisted over the Dalal Street during early afternoon deals, with both benchmark indices trading firmly in positive territory. The Sensex was outperforming the Nifty in percentage terms, reflecting strong buying interest in heavyweight stocks. The rally was supported by easing crude oil prices, renewed foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows and optimism surrounding better-than-expected September-quarter corporate earnings. Sentiments remained upbeat, as Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) Periodic Labour Force Survey has shown that unemployment rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above in India has declined to 5.1% in the July-September 2026 from 5.2% a year ago.
On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, after China's exports and imports logged double-digit growth in October. In Chinese Yuan terms, exports grew 28.7 percent year-on-year in October, and imports were 34.7 percent higher.
The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82066.17, up by 959.52 points or 1.18% after trading in a range of 81967.67 and 82520.40. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.
The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.20%, Bankex up by 2.13%, PSU up by 1.83%, Telecom up by 1.56% and Industrials up by 1.44%, while Realty down by 0.61% and Healthcare down by 0.33% were the few losing indices on BSE.
The top gainers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation up by 5.20%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.59%, Trent up by 3.48%, State Bank of India up by 3.41% and Axis Bank up by 3.41%. On the flip side, Sun Pharma down by 0.20%, Titan Company down by 0.02% and Tech Mahindra down by 0.01% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s (MoSPI) Periodic Labour Force Survey has shown that unemployment rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above in India has declined marginally to 5.1% in the July-September 2026 from 5.2% a year ago. The unemployment rate was 5.4% in the April-June quarter this year. During July-September period, rural UR declined to 4.3% from 4.8% in the previous quarter, while urban UR remained broadly stable at 6.8% against 6.7%. During the quarter, rural male UR declined by 0.3 percentage points to 4.4% from 4.7% in the year-ago period. Meanwhile, urban UR registered marginal improvements for both male (6.2% to 6.1%) and female (9% to 8.8%) over the same period.
The overall Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) for persons aged 15 years and above has improved to 55.5% during July-September 2026 from 54.6% in the previous quarter, driven by an increase in LFPR for both rural and urban areas. During the same period, LFPR in rural areas rose to 58.1% from 56.9%, while it increased marginally to 50.4% from 50.2% in urban areas. Further, the overall female LFPR increased to 34.7% from 33.2%. The overall Worker Population Ratio (WPR) for persons aged 15 years and above increased to 52.7% during the July-September 2026 quarter from 51.7% in the previous quarter. During the same period, WPR in rural areas increased to 55.6% from 54.2%, while it remained largely stable in urban areas at 46.9% against 46.8%.
In July-September 2026, the share of self-employed workers in rural areas rose to 62.7% from 61.4% in the previous quarter, while it advanced to 49.6% from 49.3% in urban areas. Meanwhile, the share of workers engaged in casual labour in rural and urban areas declined quarter-on-quarter during July-September 2026. In rural areas, it decreased from 22.5% to 21.7%, while in urban areas, it declined from 11.1% to 10.7%. Meanwhile, the share of workers in regular wage/ salaried employment in rural areas increased by 0.6 percentage points over the year. In urban regions, regular wage/ salaried employment declined marginally year-on-year. Besides, the share of the agriculture sector increased in rural areas, and the tertiary sector remained stable in urban areas.
The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25291.70, up by 247.05 points or 0.99% after trading in a range of 25263.80 and 25424.35. There were 38 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index.
The top gainers on Nifty were Interglobe Aviation up by 4.63%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 4.05%, Trent up by 3.56%, Axis Bank up by 2.64% and State Bank of India up by 2.54%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.19%, Nestle India down by 1.00%, ICICI Bank down by 0.79%, Apollo Hospital down by 0.70% and Sun Pharma down by 0.66% were the top losers.
Asian markets were trading mostly in green; KOSPI increased 136.23 points or 2.53% to 5,375.36, Taiwan Weighted added 1545.23 points or 3.49% to 44,257.15, Nikkei 225 surged 784.42 points or 1.28% to 61,244.00, Straits Times rose 46.64 points or 0.89% to 5,305.23 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 16.92 points or 0.46% to 3,680.64, while Jakarta Composite plunged 9.18 points or 0.18% to 5,116.55 and Hang Seng declined 246.04 points or 1% to 24,311.00.