India’s equity benchmarks -- the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- scaled fresh 52-week highs in Thursday’s intraday trade as optimism over India–US trade talks and a stellar quarterly performance by global tech giant Nvidia buoyed market sentiment. The rally was further supported by foreign institutional investors turning net buyers after improved September quarter earnings from India Inc.
The Nifty50 index touched an intraday high of 26,246 on Thursday, just 31 points shy of its lifetime high of 26,277 recorded in September 2024. At close, the Sensex was up 446.21 points or 0.52% at 85,632.68, and the Nifty was up 139.50 points or 0.54% at 26,192.15.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said that market sentiments were supported by optimism around a potential India–US trade deal and a global risk-on tone following Nvidia’s better-than-expected earnings, which boosted tech shares worldwide.
Beating street expectations by a decent margin, Nvidia reported revenue of $57.01 billion in the September quarter, up 62% year-on-year (Y-o-Y). The blockbuster show by the chipmaker silenced concerns related to a bubble forming in the AI market.
On the flows front, FIIs purchased equities worth Rs 1,580 crore on Wednesday and Rs 284 crore on Thursday, supporting buoyant market sentiment. “FPI holdings in domestic securities climbed to a 14-month high in the first half of Nov’25 with FPIs’ assets under custody rising to Rs 81.53 lakh crore (highest since Sep’24). Globally, investors now await the FOMC meeting minutes and key US jobs data due today for direction on the US economic trajectory. Overall, we expect the market up-move to continue, tracking domestic cues, global macro data, FII flows and a potential announcement on the India–US trade agreement,” stated Khemka.
Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking, said that investor sentiment remained upbeat, supported by renewed FII inflows and positive cues from Asian markets after Nvidia issued strong earnings guidance. The commentary (by Nvidia) helped ease concerns of an AI-driven bubble, addressing some of the broader worries that had recently pressured global technology stocks, stated Mishra.
“With rotational buying visible across major heavyweights, we expect the ongoing uptrend to remain intact, with the Nifty poised to attempt a fresh record high soon and then inch towards 26,500 level. Immediate support is placed at 26,000, followed by a major support at 25,800,” he said. Derivatives data shows significant call writing at the 26,200-26,300 strike and notable put OI buildup at 26,000, suggesting firm demand near lower levels and supply pressure near the upper band.
On the sector front, Oil & Gas, Auto, Chemicals and Private Banks advanced on Thursday whereas Nifty Media, PSU Bank and Realty stocks were under pressure. Broader indices underperformed the main indices, with Nifty Midcap marginally up by 0.02%, while Small-cap declined by 0.05%. Bajaj Finance (up 2.28%), Reliance Industries (up 2.01%) and HDFC Bank (up 1.42%) were the top gainers in the Nifty pack.
