Sensex surges close to 900 points

Mumbai: Renewed optimism about strong corporate results for the July-Sept quarter (Q3FY26), good sales during the ongoing festive season, and a slowing trend in offloading of shares by foreign funds helped sensex rally over 900 points in mid-session Thursday. The index finally settled 862 points up, at 83,468 points—less than 1% from its peak this year at 84,100 points, recorded on June 30. The progress of the India-US trade negotiations also added to investors’ optimism, market players said. On the NSE, the Nifty gained 262 points to reach 25,586 points.

Buying was across the board, with HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank contributing the most to sensex’s gain for the day, BSE data showed. The day’s session made investors richer by Rs 3.2 lakh crore, with BSE’s market capitalisation now at Rs 467 lakh crore.

According to Vinod Nair from Geojit Investments, the strong rally in the domestic market came, among others, on the back of renewed optimism surrounding India–US trade discussions. “Sentiment was further lifted by expectations of a Q3FY26 demand revival, early signs of FII inflows , supported by dovish commentary from the US Fed, and a softer dollar index. The recent appreciation of the (rupee) also reinforced the positive undertone,” Nair wrote in a note to investors. “While near-term momentum remains favourable, sustained performance will depend on signs of earnings growth from ongoing corporate results and developments in global trade.”

Data from NSDL showed that after three consecutive months of net selling of domestic stocks till Sept, aggregating Rs 76,619 crore, so far in Oct foreign portfolio investors have net bought stocks worth Rs 4,327 crore.

In Thursday’s market, on the sectoral front, real estate, FMCG and consumer durables were the top gainers while technology and telecom indices closed with barely any changes. Among the 30 sensex constituents, 27 closed with gains while three—Eternal, Bharti Airtel and Infosys—closed in the red.