Nifty trades above 24,000; pharma shares advance
Domestic equity indices traded with strong gains in the morning trade, with the Nifty 50 moving above the 24,000 level. Sentiment was supported by reports of Iran proposing a peace initiative to the US aimed at de-escalating ongoing geopolitical tensions, which boosted global risk appetite, along with steady Q4 earnings updates. Additional support came from selective buying across sectors, with pharma stocks rebounding after recent losses on value buying.
At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rallied 423.13 points or 0.55% to 77,087.69. The Nifty 50 index advanced 128.40 points or 0.54% to 24,026.35.
In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index jumped 1.15% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index surged 1.68%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,905 shares rose and 952 shares fell. A total of 233 shares were unchanged.
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 4.14% to 18.90.
Earnings Today:
Varun Beverages (up 1.07%), Coal India (up 0.56%), Adani Total Gas (up 1.03%), AU Small Finance Bank (down 2.93%), Aye Finance (up 2.75%), Bajaj Housing Finance (up 1.72%), Canara Robeco Asset Management Company (up 2.12%), Agi Greenpac (up 2.49%), Astec Lifesciences (up 0.27%), City Union Bank (up 1.39%), Prataap Snacks (down 0.33%), Huhtamaki India (up 1.56%), Jindal Saw (up 2.75%), Kirloskar Pneumatic Company (up 3.14%), Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India (up 2.42%), Nippon Life India Asset Management (up 0.47%), The Phoenix Mills (up 0.66%), Piramal Finance (down 1.23%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 1.33%), Rallis India (up 0.96%), Rossari Biotech (up 0.33%), SBI Cards and Payment Services (up 0.63%), Supreme Industries (up 1.96%), Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (up 2.88%), UltraTech Cement (up 1.02%), Unicommerce Esolutions (up 3.55%) and Websol Energy System (up 2.69%) will declare their results later today.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Pharma index jumped 2.71% to 23,193. The index fell 1.77% in the past trading session.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 7.65%), Alkem Laboratories (up 3.11%), Gland Pharma (up 2.42%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 2.40%), Divis Laboratories (up 2.04%), Cipla (up 1.74%), Torrent Pharmaceuticals (up 1.60%), Ajanta Pharma (up 1.57%), Lupin (up 1.45%) and J B Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (up 1.40%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Atul Auto gained 6.03% after the company entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Exponent Energy to manufacture and supply 15,000 electric three-wheelers integrated with the latter's battery system and powertrain.
UTI Asset Management Company (UTI AMC) tumbled 5.21% after the AMC reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 67 crore in Q4 FY26 as against a net profit of Rs 87 crore in Q4 FY25.
Cyient declined 1.85% after the company reported a 32.61% fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 65.5 crore despite a 3.94% rise in total income to Rs 1,953.5 crore in Q4 FY26 over Q3 FY26.
