Benchmarks have bounced back to trade a percent higher in late afternoon session as traders opted to buy stocks at lower levels following recent pull back. Besides, markets got support with Union Minister Piyush Goyal assuring comments amid West Asia conflict. He said that India is well-prepared to handle any disruptions in crude oil and fuel supplies, as ongoing conflict in West Asia severely disrupted gas shipments and maritime routes. Further, investors remained optimistic after Fitch Ratings in its Global Economic Outlook- March 2026 has raised India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast marginally to 7.5% for current fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26) from 7.4% projected earlier in December 2025 despite the ongoing conflict between Iran-US and Israel.

On the global front, Asian equity markets were trading mixed as the ongoing war in the West Asia dragged into a third week, driving up energy prices sharply and clouding the outlook for growth, earnings and inflation. European equity markets were trading mostly in green ahead of European Unions’ foreign ministers’ debate on a potential naval response to effective closure of Strait of Hormuz.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 75353.78, up by 789.86 points or 1.06% after trading in a range of 73949.76 and 75375.07. There were 23 stocks advancing against 7 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.32%, FMCG up by 1.10%, Bankex up by 0.86%, Basic Materials up by 0.63% and Consumer Discretionary up by 0.54%, while Oil & Gas down by 2.11%, Realty down by 1.54%, Energy down by 1.26%, Healthcare down by 1.08%, Capital Goods down by 0.95% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Ultratech Cement up by 4.42%, Bajaj Finance up by 2.84%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.59%, Eternal up by 2.48% and HDFC Bank up by 2.31%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.45%, Power Grid Corp down by 1.01%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.00%, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 0.83% and NTPC down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Mirroring the recent trajectory in retail inflation, India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation accelerated in the month of February 2026 at 2.13% as compared to 1.81% in January 2026, driven by higher prices of crude petroleum & natural gas and non- food articles.

The component wise, primary articles index, having weight of 22.62%, declined by 0.52% from 193.9 (provisional) for the month of January 2026 to 192.9 (provisional) in February 2026, with decline in the prices of food articles and minerals. However, the prices of crude petroleum & natural gas and non- food articles increased in February 2026.

Fuel & Power index, having weight of 13.15%, increased by 1.17% from 145.9 (provisional) for the month of January 2026 to 147.6 (provisional) in February 2026. The price of mineral oils increased in February 2026, while the price of electricity decreased in February, 2026 as compared to January, 2026.

Further, Manufactured Products constituting the major portion of the index with weight of 64.23%, increased by 0.47% from 147.5 (provisional) for the month of January 2026 to 148.2 (provisional) in February 2026. Meanwhile, for the month of December, 2025, the final Wholesale Price Index and inflation rate for 'All Commodities' (Base: 2011-12=100) stood at 157.2 and 0.96% respectively. 

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 23365.85, up by 214.75 points or 0.93% after trading in a range of 22955.25 and 23386.55. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Ultratech Cement up by 4.33%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.56%, Grasim Industries up by 3.15%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.05% and Trent up by 2.62%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 2.20%, Max Healthcare Inst down by 1.54%, Shriram Finance down by 1.41%, Wipro down by 1.40% and Cipla down by 1.00% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mixed; Hang Seng advanced 349.4 points or 1.35% to 25,815.00, KOSPI increased 62.61 points or 1.13% to 5,549.85, Straits Times rose 21.46 points or 0.44% to 4,863.73, while Nikkei 225 slipped 113.61 points or 0.21% to 53,706.00 Taiwan Weighted lost 57.81 points or 0.17% to 33,342.51, Shanghai Composite weakened 10.66 points or 0.26% to 4,084.79 and Jakarta Composite plunged 127.01 points or 1.81% to 7,010.20.

European equity markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 17.61 points or 0.17% to 10,278.76 and Germany’s DAX gained 19.11 points or 0.08% to 23,466.40, while France’s CAC fell 25.83 points or 0.33% to 7,885.70.