Dalal Street witnessed strong buying momentum on Wednesday, driven by a broad-based rally across indices that lifted benchmark gauges — the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty — by over 1% each.

The 30-share Sensex rallied 955 points, or 1.13%, to hit an intraday high of 85,543, while the Nifty50 added 311 points, or 1.19%, to touch the day’s high of 26,195. The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies rose to ₹474.43 lakh crore from ₹470.37 lakh crore a day earlier, adding ₹4 lakh crore to investor wealth.

With this, the benchmarks are inching closer to their record highs — the Sensex had touched an all-time high of 85,978 in September 2024, and the Nifty is now just 82 points shy of its record level of 26,277.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap and SmallCap indices climbed over 1% each, reflecting strong risk appetite across the board.

All sectoral indices traded firmly in the green, with gains across media, private banks, PSU banks, oil & gas, power, realty, metals, and consumer durables — each up around 1%.

Top gainers and losers

In the BSE Sensex pack, all index heavyweights were trading in the green, barring Bharti Airtel. Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, and Adani Ports were among the top gainers, rising up to 2.5%.

Airtel shares declined nearly 3% amid report that Indian Continent Investment, a Sunil Mittal-led promoter group entity, was looking to sell around a 0.56% stake in the company for about ₹7,200 crore through a block deal.

Auto major Maruti Suzuki climbed 1.61%, while retail leader Trent gained 1.53%. Metal heavyweight Tata Steel and IT giants TCS and HCL Tech advanced over 1.5% each.

Among other top movers were HDFC Bank (+1.43%), Sun Pharma (+1.37%), Reliance Industries (+1.37%), Larsen & Toubro (+1.35%), and Infosys (+1.32%), providing solid support to the benchmark rally.

Of the 4,180 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,697 advanced, while 1,313 declined and 170 remained unchanged. The rally pushed 97 stocks to fresh 52-week highs, even as 132 stocks hit their 52-week lows. BSE data also showed that 164 stocks were locked in upper circuits and 153 in lower circuits.

What triggered rally in equity market?

The market sentiment was lifted as global optimism extended into a third straight session after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials fuelled expectations of a rate cut as early as next month. This dovish shift boosted sentiment across emerging markets, including India.

Back home, hopes of a December rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India further energised investors. Although inflation has eased, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra noted that while there is room for further rate cuts, the final call will rest with the monetary policy committee.

“Today’s positive market opening, led by metals and real estate, reflects strong domestic demand, supportive policy expectations, and improving global cues,” said Pranay Aggarwal, Director and CEO of Stoxkart.

He said that metal stocks are gaining momentum due to firm commodity prices and continued infrastructure spending, which is improving visibility for earnings across the sector. At the same time, the real estate space is benefiting from steady interest rates and rising housing demand, leading to improved sentiment around developers and allied industries.

“Overall, sentiment remains constructive, with investors selectively positioning for growth-linked opportunities,” Aggarwal added.

Domestic brokerage PL Capital said in its latest “India Strategy Report” that the Nifty may finally be entering a long-awaited earnings upgrade cycle. After five straight quarters of earnings downgrades, Nifty earnings have now seen upgrades of 0.7% for FY26, 0.9% for FY27, and 1.3% for FY28.

The report, titled “Earnings upgrade cycle might begin”, notes that stronger corporate performance, robust festive demand, supportive government policies, and an improving macro environment are helping lift outlook.

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