Indian equity benchmarks ended flat on Thursday ahead of monthly expiry of Sensex F&O contracts. Markets made a positive start, tracking positive global cues, and amid buying interest seen in Healthcare, Oil & Gas, and Auto stocks. However, the benchmarks erased early gains and traded near the neural lines in the second half of the session, as investors turned cautious amid uncertainty over US tariff policies and ongoing US-Iran negotiations.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India signs nine FTAs: Traders took a note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India has concluded nine free trade agreements (FTAs), covering 38 nations, enabling the country's shipments to get preferential access to nearly two-thirds of global markets.

Private listed non-financial companies’ Q3FY26 revenue growth rises to 10.1%: Traders overlooked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that private listed non-financial companies' revenue growth came at 10.1% in the third quarter of FY26. The data is collected from 3,188 companies.

Foreign fund inflows: Traders paid no heed towards reports that Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 2,991.64 crore on Wednesday. 

On the global front: European equity markets traded in green after NVIDIA’s earnings eased concerns around massive AI spending and the potential disruption driven by artificial intelligence. Asian markets ended mixed as the Bank of Korea maintained its key interest rate and signaled a neutral policy stance in its new six-month dot plot framework.

The BSE Sensex ended at 82248.61, down by 27.46 points or 0.03% after trading in a range of 81970.47 and 82579.16. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 1.03%, Healthcare up by 0.96%, Capital Goods up by 0.88%, Telecom up by 0.75% and Auto up by 0.63%, while Utilities down by 0.35%, Consumer Durables down by 0.16%, Power down by 0.13% and FMCG down by 0.12% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bharat Electronics up by 2.29%, Sun Pharma up by 1.34%, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone up by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel up by 1.09% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.02%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.61%, Eternal down by 1.30%, HDFC Bank down by 1.29%, Power Grid Corp down by 0.99% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.94% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, external member of Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Saugata Bhattacharya has said that chances of benchmark interest rate going up are negligible in the near term despite growing inflation on account of geopolitical tensions. He stated rising metal prices, elevated crude oil costs and weather-related risks amid geopolitical tensions will weigh on the consumer price inflation (CPI) going forward. 

In the policy meet earlier this month, Bhattacharya and the five other members of the MPC voted unanimously to keep the repurchase, or repo rate, at 5.25%. The RBI retained its neutral policy stance, signalling rates will stay low for some time. 

The RBI has slashed rates by a total of 125 basis points since February 2025, marking its most aggressive easing cycle since 2019. It reduced rates by 25 basis points at its December meeting. The RBI kept the rate unchanged in the August, October and February 2026 monetary policies. On the inflation front, Bhattacharya said CPI is expected to climb towards the 4% target in H1 FY27. 

The CNX Nifty ended at 25496.55, up by 14.05 points or 0.06% after trading in a range of 25400.95 and 25572.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Tata Motors Passenger up by 2.93%, Eicher Motors up by 2.70%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.22%, Shriram Finance up by 1.94% and Max Healthcare Inst up by 1.88%. On the flip side, Trent down by 1.68%, Eternal down by 1.48%, Coal India down by 1.32%, Tata Consumer Products down by 1.31% and Power Grid Corp down by 1.30% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading higher; Germany’s DAX gained 48.26 points or 0.19% to 25,224.20, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 9.74 points or 0.09% to 10,816.15 and France’s CAC rose 51.23 points or 0.6% to 8,610.30.