Indices trade higher; realty shares plunge

The benchmark indices continued to trade with significant gains in mid-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 23,200 mark, indicating some recovery in market sentiment.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 312.79 points or 0.43% to 74,323.02. The Nifty 50 index added 117.65 points or 0.51% to 23,236.25.

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, 1,621 shares rose and 2,355 shares fell. A total of 264 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.

Buzzing Index: The Nifty Realty index rose 1.19% to 823.95. The index tumbled 11.12% in the past straight seven sessions.

Oberoi Realty (up 2.55%), Lodha Developers (up 1.62%), Brigade Enterprises (up 1.58%), Phoenix Mills (up 1.27%), Godrej Properties (up 0.99%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 0.91%), DLF (up 0.67%), Aditya Birla Real Estate (up 0.67%), Anant Raj (up 0.03%) surged.

Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper fell 0.14% to 7.063 compared with the previous session close of 7.073.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 95.9650 compared with its close of 95.8800 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 October 2026 settlement rose 0.66% to Rs 1,51,800.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.01% to 99.62.

The United States 10-year bond yield advanced 0.20% to 5.006.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for the November 2026 settlement fell 56 cents or 0.51% to $108.19 a barrel.

Stock in Spotlight:

Equitas Small Finance Bank advanced 1.26% after the company said that its board has approved a proposal to raise funds aggregating to Rs 500 crore through the issuance of non-convertible debentures.

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