It was another range-bound session for the Indian stock market, as the key averages remained largely unchanged in Thursday’s trade, February 26, with investors assessing the impact of rising crude oil prices amid mounting tensions in the Middle East, even as confidence in global tech stocks improved.
Though the key benchmark indices closed flat, they recovered the majority of the early losses, with the Nifty 50 eventually settling at the 25,500 level, 0.07% higher, while the S&P BSE Sensex also finished the session flat at the 82,267 level.
The broader markets closed mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rallying 0.60%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index finished with a modest drop of 0.08%. Sectoral performance was mixed, with the Nifty Pharma, Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Oil and Gas, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Auto indices rallying between 0.80% and 1.10%.
On the lower side, the Nifty Media index lost 0.67% of its value, and the Nifty FMCG index shed 0.23%. The recent laggard, Nifty IT, closed flat.
The US stock market rallied overnight as chip major Nvidia delivered strong fiscal fourth-quarter results, fueled by a 75% surge in revenue from its core data center segment.
The key Asian markets also closed higher during the session amid improved sentiment, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 crossing the 59,000 level, led by software-related shares, as investor fears over disruption from artificial intelligence eased and expectations of looser monetary policy strengthened.
(More to come)