Financial services lead Indian market higher as foreign inflation eases

On Wednesday, the Indian equity market opened on a firm footing, buoyed by encouraging signals from overseas. The Sensex stood at 77,432, up 377 points (0.49%), and the Nifty clocked 24,168, up 116 points (0.48%) as of 9:21 a.m.

Financial sector stocks were the primary engine of the rise, with the Nifty Financial Services index posting the biggest percentage gain. Gains were also seen in private banking, auto, PSU banking, defence, manufacturing, consumer durables and realty indexes. The IT and media indexes remained the only sectors in negative territory.

The rally was broad, lifting both mid‑cap and small‑cap segments. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose to 18,074 (up 86 points, 0.48%) and the Nifty Smallcap 100 to 19,370 (up 143 points, 0.75%).

Among the leading gainers were Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Indigo, Ultratech Cement, Eternal, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Trident, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Tech, HDFC Bank, Adani Ports, Titan, Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, M&M, ITC and L&T. Declining stocks included major IT players such as TCS, Infosys, Power Grid, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel.

Global markets mostly posted green candles – Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta were all higher, while Shanghai fell. The U.S. Dow Jones edged up and the Nasdaq saw a 0.90% increase.

The international bullishness is attributed to a decline in U.S. retail inflation, which slipped to 3.5% in June from 4.2% in May, reflecting easing energy costs.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹739.69 crore on Tuesday, whereas domestic institutional investors bought ₹2,927.71 crore, indicating strong local participation despite the foreign outflow.