Mkts rally for 3rd day supported by fag-end buying

Mumbai:Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rose for the third straight session on Wednesday, driven by last-hour buying in bank, metal, and FMCG shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 283.29 points, or 0.34 per cent, to settle at 83,734.25 in a volatile trade. During the day, it touched an intraday high of 83,770.05. The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 93.95 points, or 0.37 per cent, to close at 25,819.35.

Among the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, ITC, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Trent, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. On the other hand, Eternal, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Adani Ports, Tata Consultancy Services, IndiGo, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki India PowerGrid and HDFC Bank were the laggards.

"Indian markets witnessed a late surge driven by broad-based buying after a cautious start, as positive domestic sectoral cues helped offset lingering global uncertainties," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said. He added that banking and financial stocks remained resilient on the back of steady asset-quality expectations, while selective buying in FMCG names contributed to relative outperformance.

"In contrast, the IT sector continued to lag, weighed down by concerns over AI-led disruption and margin pressures, which kept investor sentiment subdued. "On the earnings front, Q3FY26 results for the Nifty 500 were broadly in line with expectations, underscoring that while growth trends remain mixed, the domestic macro environment continues to offer medium-term stability," Nair said.

Broader indices also traded firm, with the BSE Smallcap Select Index rising 1.02 per cent and the Midcap Select Index gaining 0.40 per cent. Among sectoral indices, PSU Bank rose by 1.41 per cent, Metal by 1.24 per cent, FMCG by 1.16 per cent, Capital Goods by 0.89 per cent, Industrials by 0.80 per cent, Commodities by 0.78 per cent, Bankex by 0.72 per cent, Oil & Gas by 0.62 per cent, Telecommunication by 0.59 per cent, and Energy by 0.55 per cent. On the other hand, IT, Services, and Focused IT ended in the red. A total of 2,237 stocks advanced, while 1,955 declined and 191 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Shares of ITC, Godfrey Phillips and VST Industries surged 20 per cent amid reports that companies have implemented price hikes to pass on the impact of the recent excise duty increase to consumers.

The stock of Larsen & Toubro settled over 1 per cent higher after the engineering major announced that it has teamed up with Nvidia to build India's largest Gigawatt-scale AI factory.