Nifty holds above 23,250 level; European shares trade mostly in green

The benchmark indices traded near the day's high in afternoon trade, tracking positive cues from Asian markets as the recent rally in crude oil prices paused. Investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve?s policy meeting later today. The Nifty surged above the 23,250 mark, indicating some recovery in market sentiment.

At 13:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 425.42 points or 0.57% to 74,429.24. The Nifty 50 index added 141.90 points or 0.61% to 23,260.50.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.19% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.06%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,832 shares rose and 2,320 shares fell. A total of 271 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will roll out a targeted Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) regime effective 15 October 2026, ending a years-long blanket zero-MDR policy to build a self-sustaining funding base for network infrastructure, cybersecurity, and platform scalability.

Under the new guidelines notified by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India, a standard 0.4% MDR?capped at Rs 300 for high-ticket purchases?will apply strictly to commercial person-to-merchant (P2M) payments above Rs 2,000, while essential utilities and fuel will draw a flat Rs 5 fee and capital market transfers are levied at 0.02%.

Retail consumers and individual peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers remain entirely insulated from charges, as do small merchants processing under Rs 1 lakh a month and all transactions up to Rs 2,000, which together account for over 95% of daily UPI transaction volumes.

India?s current account deficit widened to $11.2 billion during April-July 2026 from $6.6 billion in the corresponding period a year earlier, mainly due to a higher merchandise trade deficit. The goods trade gap increased to $117.8 billion in the first four months of the financial year from $97.1 billion a year ago, as imports grew faster than exports. Meanwhile, net services receipts rose to $69.3 billion from $64.3 billion in April-July 2025.

Gainers & Losers:

ITC (up 2.19%), Tata Consumer (up 2.14%), Trent (up 2.12%), SBI (up 2.08%) and Nestle India (up 1.98%) were the top gainers.

TCS (down 1.88%), Wipro (down 1.51%), Tech Mahindra (down 1.15%), Infosys (down 1.13%) and Indigo (down 0.92%) were the top losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Equitas Small Finance Bank rose 1.01%. The bank said that its board has approved a proposal to raise funds aggregating to Rs 500 crore through the issuance of non-convertible debentures.

Alkem Laboratories rose 0.18%. The company has announced the launch of NeuCeno (cenobamate), anti-seizure medication (ASM) for the treatment of partial-onset seizures in adult patients.

Praj Industries fell 1.04%. The company said that it signed a development & commercialization agreement for bio-isobutanol (Bio-IBA) technology in India. Under the agreement, Praj will lead the commercialization of Bio-IBA technology in India, with exclusive rights to deploy the technology in the country.

Allied Blenders and Distillers advanced 0.74%. The company said that it has been granted a licence for manufacture of malt spirits for potable purpose by the Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, Telangana, Hyderabad.

Global Markets:

European equities edged marginally higher while most Asian equity benchmarks traded higher on Wednesday, supported by regional gains ahead of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The upward movement occurred alongside elevated crude oil prices and higher US Treasury yields.

In Japan, trade deficit widened significantly to JPY 1,105.6 billion in August 2026 from JPY 294.1 billion a year earlier. It marked the fourth consecutive month of deficit and the largest since January, as imports grew faster than exports. Imports surged 28.0% year-on-year to JPY 11,153.9 billion, following a 27.9% rise in July, marking the strongest growth since November 2022. Exports rose 19.3% to JPY 10,048.4 billion.

US indices declined on Tuesday, driven by positioning ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting and rising bond yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 328.09 points, or 0.63%, to 52,093.11; the S&P 500 declined 0.45% to 7,585.73; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.78% to 25,981.57. Certain technology shares recorded advances, with Qualcomm gaining over 4%, and Advanced Micro Devices and Coherent each rising approximately 2%.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its interest rate decision on Wednesday. Market pricing reflects expectations of a 25-basis-point increase from the existing target range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Market attention is focused on the policy statement and accompanying commentary regarding inflation, economic conditions, and projected interest rate adjustments.

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