Sensex, Nifty pare gains in afternoon trade; broader indices outperform

The key equity benchmarks pared some gains in afternoon trade, although sentiment remained positive. Softer crude oil prices, continued foreign fund inflows and hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran conflict supported investor sentiment. The Nifty slipped below the 25,300 mark after hitting an intraday high of 25,424.35. Chemical stocks remained in demand.

At 13:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 700.07 points, or 0.86%, to 81,806.72. The Nifty 50 added 183.35 points, or 0.73%, to 25,228.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap index gained 0.94%, while the BSE 250 SmallCap index advanced 1.24%.

Market breadth remained strong. On the BSE, 2,939 shares advanced, while 1,442 declined. A total of 246 shares remained unchanged.

The NSE India VIX, which measures the market's expectation of near-term volatility, rose 1.75% to 17.73.

Economy:

Moody?s Ratings raised India?s FY27 GDP growth forecast to 7% from 6.5%, citing resilient domestic consumption, improving investment activity and the economy?s ability to absorb the energy supply shock triggered by the Iran war. The agency said diversified crude oil and natural gas supplies, along with support from state-backed oil marketing companies and tax cuts, had cushioned the impact of higher energy prices. It also pointed to strong capital goods production, rising industrial credit and higher capacity utilisation as signs of a potential recovery in private investment. However, risks include widening price pressures, a deficient monsoon and tighter monetary policy.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Chemical index rose 1.68% to 28,445.50. Deepak Fertilisers (up 6.07%), Navin Fluorine (5.60%) and Aarti Industries (5.38%) led the gains.

Other notable gainers included Gujarat Fluorochemicals (4.07%), Deepak Nitrite (3.08%), Coromandel International (2.91%), PI Industries (2.57%), SRF (2.17%), UPL (2.08%) and Jubilant Ingrevia (2.07%).

Most constituents traded higher. Pidilite Industries (down 1.22%) and Solar Industries (0.71%) were the only notable decliners.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Titagarh Rail Systems added 3.21% after the company?s consolidated net profit jumped 49.23% to Rs 63.17 crore in the quarter ended 30th September 2026 compared with Rs 42.33 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year. Revenue from operations registered a marginal decline of 0.81% YoY to Rs 792.56 crore in Q2 FY27.

HEG Advanced Materials rallied 3.16% after the company?s subsidiary, TACC received the approval letter for an incentive of Rs 609.50 crore under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS).

Artson jumped 4.38% after the company secured a purchase order worth Rs 16.07 crore, excluding GST, from Tata Steel, Jamshedpur. The order covers the supply of two dome and reformer shells. It is an item-rate contract and is scheduled for execution by 6 May 2027.

Global Market:

Dow futures rose 83 points, pointing to a positive start for US equities.

European equity indices opened higher, supported by gains across global markets and a recovery in technology stocks. However, concerns over rising US inflation and bond yields kept investors cautious.

Most Asian indices traded higher on Wednesday as investors assessed the implications of stronger-than-expected US inflation and rising bond yields. Sentiment remained cautious after US technology stocks fell in the previous session.

US stocks ended lower on Tuesday after hotter-than-expected inflation data strengthened expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase in December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 157.86 points or 0.30% to 52,231.89. The S&P 500 dropped 29.01 points or 0.38% to 7,520.93, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 187.26 points or 0.74% to 25,065.87.

Technology stocks led the declines, while semiconductor shares remained under pressure amid renewed volatility in the artificial intelligence trade.

Nvidia fell 5.4% amid reports of an internal investigation into suspected chip shipments to China involving its chief executive, Jensen Huang. The stock has declined 9.6% over the past two sessions.

SoftBank Group dropped 3.3% in Japan after reporting a net loss of $7 billion for the second quarter. The loss was partly attributed to substantial investments in US data centre infrastructure.

CoreWeave was in focus in after-hours trading after reporting its third-quarter results. Revenue surged 168% year-on-year to $3.66 billion, while adjusted EBITDA increased to $2.26 billion from $838 million. The company raised its FY26 revenue guidance to $13 billion-$13.3 billion. It also increased its adjusted operating income guidance to $1.275 billion-$1.375 billion.

Another significant AI-related development involved Anthropic. The artificial intelligence company is pursuing a potential public listing that could raise as much as $64.4 billion and value the company at up to $1.4 trillion.

US consumer inflation rose 0.4% month-on-month in October, following a 0.6% increase in September. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3%, against the market expectation of 0.2%. Higher shelter costs accounted for more than 30% of the monthly increase in headline inflation.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics could not publish the usual annual inflation rates for October because it had not collected October 2025 survey data during the previous year's government funding lapse.

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