Closing Bell: Sensex up 330 points, Nifty at 25,285.35; Cipla top gainer, Tata Steel, TCS decline

The Indian equity markets closed the week with a positive session today. The BSE Sensex was up by 328.72 points or 0.40% at 82,500.82, while the NSE Nifty50 inched towards 25,300, rising by 103.55 points or 0.41% at 25,285.35. Over the week, Sensex rose by 1.35%, and Nifty by 1.55%, after pausing its losing streak that lasted for eight consecutive sessions. 

In today’s trade, Cipla was the top gainer, rising by 3.63%, as the US Senate passed the Biosecure Act, which restricts federal agencies from procuring biotech equipment or services from Chinese companies, as they are considered a security concern. Due to this development, Indian CDMO (Contract Development & Manufacturing Organisation) companies could benefit as an alternative for global supply chains. 

Nifty Pharma too gained because of the Biosecure Act, rising as much as 1.37%, with Divi’s Labs advancing by 5.82%. Out of the 20 pharmaceutical stocks, 14 advanced and 6 declined. 

The State Bank of India (2.23%), Maruti Suzuki (1.88%), and Bajaj Auto (1.50% ) were the other gainers on the NSE. On the BSE, SBI, Maruti Suzuki and Axis Bank led the charge. 

Tata stocks were in focus today due to earnings results, as well as boardroom rifts have caught the public eye. Tata Steel and TCS shares were down by 1.42% and 1.10% respectively. Tata Steel, along with other metal stocks, saw a decline as the US Dollar strengthened today, while TCS published weaker-than-expected Q2 earnings. Tata Elxsi’s shares also declined by 3% intraday, after posting a 33% decline in profits on a year-on-year basis. 

Meanwhile, Tata Communications soared by 15% during the day. The stock had advanced by 20% after announcing the launch of its Voice AI platform powered by Agentic AI — an industry-first speech-to-speech customer engagement solution offering instant decision-making, multilingual fluency, and sub-500 milliseconds latency performance on October 6. 

Nifty Metal was the major loser amongst its sectoral peers, declining by 0.91%, with Hindustan Copper sliding over 5.51%, and Steel Authority of India (SAIL) by over 3%. 

Nifty IT dipped marginally by 0.05%. Nifty Realty rebounded by 1.67% in today’s trade, after seeing a sharp decline in previous sessions. Nifty PSU Bank too rose as much as the realty index. 

Broader markets closed in the green with no exceptions, with Nifty Midcap50 and Nifty Smallcap50 rising by 0.56% and 0.95% respectively. India VIX cooled off by 0.17%, to settle at 10.10.