Wednesday brought a subdued opening to the Indian stock market, with benchmarks showing scant movement in initial hours. Sensex nudged up 7 points to 83,458, and Nifty added 1 point to 25,724 at 9:20 AM. Metal stocks anchored the market, countering drags from other pockets.
Nifty Metal’s impressive 1% jump crowned it the leading index, backed by firm commodity trends. Gains extended to PSU Bank, Commodities, Financial Services, Defence, Healthcare, FMCG, Pharma, and Realty. IT, Energy, and Services struggled, mired in red amid profit-taking and external pressures.
Market participation skewed towards midcaps and smallcaps, which outperformed. Nifty Midcap 100 surged 0.29% (172 points) to 60,054, and Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.35% (59 points) to 17,208, attracting rotational buying.
Sensex’s bright spots were Tata Steel, BEL, ITC, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, Ultratech Cement, Bajaj Finance, M&M, Sun Pharma, Titan, Indigo, Eternal, Asian Paints, and Bharti Airtel. Draggers included Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and NTPC.
Strong third-quarter outcomes and positive overseas news have fueled optimism, per market veterans, though IT volatility from AI developments looms large. Asian peers were partially shuttered for Lunar New Year; others green. US markets upbeat. Commodities: WTI crude $62.38 (+0.19%), Brent $67.60 (+0.28%), gold $4,938 (+0.66%), silver $74.54. Eyes now on sustained buying interest.