Indian equity benchmarks maintained their upward momentum in the morning session, driven by buying in Metal, IT and TECK stocks and a positive trend in global markets. Sentiments remained up-beat with Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that at a time when the world is grappling with uncertainty, India is building bridges of trade, trust and transformation, and now enjoys preferential trade access to nearly two-thirds of global trade owing to a series of high-quality free trade agreements (FTAs) concluded under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sector-wise, Airline stocks remained in watch as Ratings agency ICRA said Indian airlines are expected to reduce losses to an estimated Rs 11,000-12,000 crore next fiscal from a projected Rs 17,000-18,000 crore this financial year, even as it maintained a stable outlook for the domestic aviation industry. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green as tech firms led an Asia-wide rally, following a rebound in their counterparts on Wall Street. 

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 82829.11, up by 603.19 points or 0.73% after trading in a range of 82488.26 and 82957.91. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.61%, IT up by 2.15%, TECK up by 1.52%, Basic Materials up by 1.50% and Auto up by 1.36%, while Telecom down by 0.26% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 3.30%, Tata Steel up by 3.16%, Interglobe Aviation up by 2.56%, Infosys up by 2.40% and TCS up by 2.35%. On the flip side, SBI down by 0.62%, Eternal down by 0.55%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.35%, ITC down by 0.06% and Asian Paints down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the domestic jewellery retail industry is expected to record nearly 18 per cent revenue growth in FY27, with rising bullion prices expected to drive value growth. Ind-Ra has revised its FY26 revenue growth estimate upward by 600 bps to 23 per cent YoY, led by price effects, and expects it to settle at a high-teen rate (18 per cent) for FY27 on a high base.

Consequently, it has revised its outlook on the retail jewellery sector to neutral from improving for FY27. Preeti Kumaran, Senior Analyst, India Ratings & Research said ‘Jewellery volumes are set to drop sharply in FY26 - the steepest post-pandemic decline, due to high gold prices, but strong festive and wedding-season buying in 2HFY26 boosted sentiments, even at record high prices, leading to an upward revision in our revenue growth expectations.’ She stated reshaping buyer behaviour to accept record-high gold prices as the new normal, along with re-aligning the product mix by increasing the proportion of studded jewellery, lower-purity (9k, 14k and 18k) gold jewellery, light and ultra-light pieces for the mass segment to accelerate inventory turns, will help jewellers in navigating industry challenges over the near to medium term.

Besides, the report noted that with gold outperforming with exceptional returns among various asset classes, investment demand is expected to remain steady. In the current volatile pricing environment, the report stated most jewellers will keep hedging through daily or weekly replenishment models to average out prices, and overall revenue growth is likely to remain intact, as price gains offset any volume decline and volume growth offsets any price corrections.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 25619.90, up by 195.25 points or 0.77% after trading in a range of 25507.90 and 25652.60. There were 43 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 3.21%, Tata Steel up by 3.05%, Interglobe Aviation up by 2.46%, Infosys up by 2.44% and TCS up by 2.31%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 0.71%, SBI down by 0.69%, Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.39%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 0.25% and Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.11% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 1508.91 points or 2.63% to 58,830.00, Taiwan Weighted added 621.36 points or 1.79% to 35,322.18, Jakarta Composite gained 49.3 points or 0.6% to 8,330.13, Shanghai Composite strengthened 40.77 points or 0.99% to 4,158.18, KOSPI increased 146.78 points or 2.46% to 6,116.42 and Hang Seng advanced 202.68 points or 0.76% to 26,793.00.

On the flip side, Straits Times fell 8.15 points or 0.16% to 5,012.64.