Sensex rises 327 pts, Nifty nears 24,600 as Asia cheers Wall St rally, bets on Fed easing

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 kicked off Wednesday’s session on a positive note, tracking strong global cues after US inflation data released overnight raised bets of policy easing by the US Federal Reserve. Investor sentiment also got a boost as India’s retail inflation eased to an eight-year low.

At 9:18 am, the BSE Sensex was trading 296.10 points higher at 80,531.69, gaining 0.37 per cent after rising as much as 327 points in early trade. The NSE Nifty50 advanced 106 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 24,593.40, after touching day’s high of 24,599.55.

Amruta Shinde, Technical & Derivative Analyst at Choice Equity Broking Private Limited, said the domestic benchmark indices are expected to open on a positive note today, as indicated by the GIFT Nifty, which points to a marginal uptick of around 110 points in the Nifty 50. 

“In the previous session, the Nifty opened flat and witnessed strong early buying, but the gains could not be sustained as selling pressure dragged it below 24,500, ending the day in negative territory. The daily chart shows the formation of a bearish candle with a long upper wick, reflecting selling pressure at higher levels,” Shinde said.

Among Sensex stocks, Bharat Electronics led gainers, rising 1.67 per cent to Rs 386.60. Tata Motors climbed 1.35 per cent. Other gainers included Power Grid (up 0.98 per cent), Eternal (up 0.67 per cent), Tata Steel (up 0.60 per cent) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.55 per cent).

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) shares edged 0.85 per cent higher to Rs 237.50 in Wednesday’s trade after the state-run oil major announced it had inked a joint operating agreement (JOA) with Oil India for two onland blocks and one ultra-deepwater block secured under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Bid Round-IX.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, US equities closed sharply higher overnight. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 1.13 per cent to settle at 6,445.76, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 483.52 points, or 1.10 per cent, to close at 44,458.61. 

Chinese and Hong Kong equities advanced over 1 per cent on Wednesday, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 extended gains to scale a fresh record high.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said the significant recent underperformance of the Indian market deserves a close look. Nifty has been setting new lows consecutively for the last six weeks while most other markets -developed and emerging- are doing well. 

“This underperformance is despite the massive DII buying aided by robust inflows into mutual funds. In August, so far, FIIs have sold equity for Rs 18,620 crore through the exchanges. This FII selling has been completely eclipsed by the massive DII buying of Rs 46,272 crore. Yet Nifty has drifted down from 24768 to 24487,” Vijayakumar said.

“Why? Trump’s harsh tariffs and the straining of relations between US and India have impacted the market sentiments and, consequently, shorts have piled up pulling the market down. The tepid earnings growth, elevated valuations and modest projection of 8 to 10% earnings growth for FY26 have emboldened the bears to increase the short positions. A sudden reversal of sentiments can lead to short covering and sharp recovery in the market. The Trump-Putin talks may provide a positive trigger but there is no certainty about it,” Vijayakumar said.

Vijayakumar said this is the right time for asset allocation. Investors with a long-term investment horizon of 3 years and above can accumulate fairly valued largecaps in banking, telecom, capital goods, aviation and select midcap IT. The risk-reward in these segments is favourable for investment.

Domestic equity benchmarks settled lower on Tuesday amid negative global cues and FIIs persistent outflow. The BSE Sensex closed 762 points away from the intraday high of 80,997.67 at 80,235.59, down 368.49 points, or 0.46 per cent. The NSE Nifty50 declined 97.65 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at 24,487.40.