The Indian stock market pulled back sharply after touching record highs, as pressure at higher levels brought the frontline indices to settle with only modest gains. Both indices began the session on a firm note, taking cues from Wall Street, and registered fresh record highs for the first time in 14 months.
The Nifty 50 touched a peak of 26,310 before closing with a marginal gain of 0.03% at 26,233. The S&P BSE Sensex also hit a record high of 86,055, but profit booking in banking stocks trimmed the gains, and the index settled with a mild rise of 0.02% at 85,704.
Sentiment remained in favor of bulls amid rising expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut in December, the return of overseas investors, improving domestic macros, and anticipated earnings recovery, all driving the Indian stock market to catch up with its Asian peers.
Despite higher US tariffs on Indian imports, investors shrugged off these near-term concerns, focusing instead on the economy’s solid long-term fundamentals. As per the analysts estimates, the Indian economy is projected to have grown nearly 7% in the July-September quarter and is expected to expand at 6.8% in the current financial year ending March 2026.
In terms of sector-wise performance, Nifty Media led the gains, rallying 0.6%, followed by Nifty Private Bank, Nifty IT, and Nifty FMCG, which all surged in a range of 0.17% to 0.40%. On the flip side, Nifty Realty was hit hard, declining 0.78%, while Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Oil & Gas indices also closed with losses of over 0.60%.
(more to come)