Pre-Diwali Stock Market Rally: Sensex Gains 862 Points, Investors Make ₹2 Lakh Crore

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): The Indian stock markets ended Thursday’s trading session with strong gains, as buying was witnessed across sectors. The Sensex closed up 862.23 points (1.04%) at 83,467.66, while the Nifty rose 261.75 points (1.03%) to 25,585.30.

Banking stocks led the rally, with the Nifty Bank Index gaining 622.65 points (1.10%) to 57,422.55. Other sectoral gains included Nifty Auto (+1.27%), Nifty IT (+0.37%), Nifty Financial Services (+1.14%), Nifty FMCG (+2.02%), Nifty Realty (+1.90%), Nifty Energy (+0.42%), and Nifty Services (+0.83%). Midcap and smallcap indices also witnessed buying: Nifty Midcap 100 rose 271.15 points (0.46%) to 59,241.15, and Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 43.80 points (0.24%) to 18,131.85.

Among the top gainers in the Sensex pack were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, M&M, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, HUL, Trent, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, ITC, HCL Tech, L&T, and Maruti Suzuki. Only Eterna (Zomato) and Infosys ended in the red.

Market analysts attributed the rally to easing trade tensions between the US and India, along with positive global cues, which boosted investor sentiment. Broad gains were seen in realty, auto, FMCG, and private banking stocks. Factors supporting the rally included expectations of improved demand in Q3 FY26, early signals of FII inflows, soft comments from the US Federal Reserve, and a weaker dollar index.

The Indian markets started the session in the green, with the Sensex trading at 82,985.97, up 380.54 points (0.46%), and the Nifty at 25,433.65, up 110.10 points (0.43%) around 9:32 AM.