Heavyweight Stocks Led The Charge
Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Infosys and Reliance Industries were the biggest contributors to the Nifty’s gains, helping the benchmark index remain firmly in positive territory through the session.
Defence Stocks Powered The Rally
Defence shares emerged as the strongest pocket of the market. The Nifty Defence index was the top-gaining sectoral gauge, with all of its constituents closing higher. Paras Defence surged 18%, while Bharat Dynamics and Cochin Shipyard were among the top gainers in the midcap segment.
Banking Stocks Added Momentum
IDBI Bank jumped 19% following reports related to divestment, making it one of the biggest gainers of the day. Yes Bank also featured among the leading gainers in the midcap space. The Nifty Bank index advanced 288 points to close at 57,085, while the Nifty Midcap index gained 321 points to settle at 62,123.
Among other stocks, NBCC rose more than 3% after reporting commercial space sales worth ₹2,857 crore in New Delhi. In the energy space, BPCL gained 2%, while Oil India and ONGC ended lower as Brent crude prices slipped below $79 per barrel.
The Nifty Auto index emerged as the worst-performing sectoral gauge. Tata Motors fell sharply after Jaguar Land Rover’s FY27 outlook and ended as the top loser on the Nifty, while Eicher Motors was also among the major laggards.
Also Read: GIC OFS opens for retail investors today — All you need to know
From the Sensex basket, Trent Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Eternal Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd were the major gainers.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, Axis Bank Ltd and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd were the biggest laggards.
Market breadth remained positive, with advancing stocks outnumbering declining stocks on the NSE. The advance-decline ratio stood at 3:2.
Also Read: Raamdeo Agrawal: India’s economy is ‘on full fire’, largecaps could regain leadership
Mayuresh Joshi, Director Research, Marketsmith India, on Defence stocks, said, “The underlying for the sector as a whole is that the sector already has a very decent order book of the stocks that are largely comprising the sector, and therefore giving you visibility over the next three to four years is a given.
The only challenge that probably remains is that in a particular financial year, on an annualised basis, you will obviously get a quarter where execution will probably be a bit or below par, and where the numbers might just start coming off.
But structurally, over the next four to five years, the story probably remains intact in terms of the revenue visibility, in terms of the margins at which these orders have been tendered, and the execution, which structurally will remain very, very positive, both in terms of providing to the domestic customers and huge export opportunities that probably exist as we speak.
Also Read: NBCC shares gains after ₹2,857 crore commercial space sale in New Delhi
Stocks like BEL, as an example, and stocks like HAL, as an example, my opinion has a long way to go in terms of all these parameters put together. So, anybody holding this stock should continue to hold.”
