By Madhu Balaji

Copyright thehindubusinessline

The equity benchmark indices snapped an eight-session losing streak, ahead of a market holiday, following the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.50 per cent while maintaining a neutral policy stance.

The RBI announced relaxed norms for acquisition-related lending, further giving financial stocks a boost.

Commenting on the broad-based rally, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments, said the rally today, with the RBI’s policy decision broadly in line with expectations, but accompanied by a more constructive tone than in June, which buoyed investor sentiment.

“Its dovish stance, alongside an upward revision of India’s GDP growth forecast from 6.5 per cent to 6.8 per cent, reinforced confidence. Additional support came from five targeted measures to ease lending, including relaxed capital market exposure norms and enhanced infrastructure financing”, Nair said.

“Additional support came from easing crude oil prices and sustained strength in global equities. Stability in the rupee against the US dollar and a decline in India VIX further reflected subsiding near-term volatility, encouraging incremental risk-taking,” Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

Sensex settled 715.69 points or 0.89 per cent higher at 80,983.31, after hitting an intraday high of 81,068.43 against the previous close of 80,267.62.

Nifty 50 increased by 225.20 points or 0.92 per cent to end at 24,836.30, after scaling a high of 24,867.95. This marked its highest one-session gain since August 18, 2025, emphasised Vinay Rajani, Senior Technical & Derivative Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, on Nifty breaking the losing streak.

Smallcap index outperformed midcap with a little over 1 per cent increase. Except for the Nifty PSU Banks index, all sectoral indices closed in the green. Gains were led by banking and media stocks. Auto stocks advanced on the back of healthy sales. Pharma, realty and IT also soared.

The Bank Nifty soared over 1 per cent, driven by optimism around enhanced lending capacities and reduced risk weights for infrastructure loans, which should boost NBFCs and banks’ asset quality.

“The cautious, constructive outlook, paired with international factors such as a stable rupee and positive global cues, underpinned broader market participation, including the autos and realty sectors,” Abhinav Tiwari, Research Analyst at Bonanza said.

Top gainers & losers

Among the Sensex firms, Tata Motors, Shriram Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent,Axis Bank and Adani Enterprises led the gainers, while Bajaj Finance, SBI, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto dipped the most.

Tata Motors topped the gainers list after announcing the record date for demerger of the commercial vehicles business and September sales data.

The market breadth was strongly positive as 2,797 stocks advanced, 1,360 stocks declined and 134 stocks remained unchanged, of all the 4,291 stocks that were traded on the BSE. About 150 stocks scaled their 52-week highs, and 120 touched their 52-week lows. Only 10 stocks hit the upper circuit and 7 hit the lower circuit.

Overall, the rebound reflects improving sentiment and hints at early signs of a potential shift in market direction.

Shares of Kotak Mahindra, Axis Bank, ICICI, HDFC Bank, IndusInd and Bank of Baroda led the gainers on the Nifty bank index.

Midcap & smallcap movers

KPIT Tech, Vodafone Idea, Nykaa, Cochin Shipyard, HUDCO and OFSS soared 4-5 per cent under the midcap segment, while ITC Hotels, Hindustan Petroleum, Cummins and Indian Bank declined close to 2 per cent.

Smallcap stocks Neuland Lab, GRSE, PPL Pharma, Laurus Labs, IGIL, CreditAccess and Data Patterns climbed 4-5 per cent, while Delhivery, KEC International, Ola Electrick, MGL and Whirlpool dropped the most.

On the BSE, shares of Sun TV, Netweb, Nazara Tech, STL Tech and Rategain rallied 7-15 per cent. On the flip side, JSW Holdings, Delhivery, NLC India, Maharashtra Scooters, Aditya Birla Real Estate declined 2-5 per cent.

The domestic market will be closed tomorrow on account of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti/Dussehra

Published on October 1, 2025