Indian equity benchmarks ended with marginal gains in the range-bound session on Wednesday as investors stayed on the sidelines amid weak cues from other Asian markets and tariff-related uncertainty. After a flat start, the markets slipped further but later recovered, supported by select heavyweight stocks across sectors, which helped pare all the losses. 

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

India economy likely to grow at 6.5% in FY26 despite geo-political tensions: Expressing an optimism over India’s economic growth prospects, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman S Mahendra Dev has said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 6.5 per cent in FY26, despite geo-political tensions and trade policy uncertainties. 

India's merchandise exports remain flat at $35.14 billion in June 2025: The commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India's merchandise exports remained almost flat at $35.14 billion in June 2025 as against $35.16 billion same month last year. 

Rupee falls against US Dollar: Indian rupee declined against the US dollar, tracking a strengthening American currency against major crosses overseas amid uncertainties over the India-US trade pact. However, renewed foreign capital inflows and sliding global crude prices supported the domestic unit.

Asset quality stress in NBFC-MFI sector likely to persist in H1 FY26: Credit rating agency ICRA’s report stated that asset quality stress in the Non-Banking Financial Company - Microfinance Institution (NBFC-MFI) sector surged in 2024-25 amid borrower overleveraging as well as operational challenges, and the pressure is expected to persist in H1 FY26.

Global front: European markets were trading higher even as data showed British inflation increased unexpectedly in June to reach an 18-month high due to higher transport and food costs. Asian markets ended mostly lower as U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 19 percent tariff on Indonesian exports under a new bilateral pact. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 63.57 points or 0.08% to 82,634.48 and the CNX Nifty was up by 16.25 points or 0.06% to 25,212.05. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,784.75 and 82,342.94 respectively. There were 15 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.10%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 0.66%, Realty up by 0.50%, TECK up by 0.49%, FMCG up by 0.43% and PSU up by 0.43%, while Metal down by 0.61%, Basic Materials down by 0.37%, Capital Goods down by 0.24%, Healthcare down by 0.15% and Industrials down by 0.01% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.10%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.94%, SBI up by 1.81%, Infosys up by 1.50% and Adani Ports &SEZ up by 0.78%. On the flip side, Eternal down by 1.58%, Sun Pharma down by 1.55%, Tata Steel down by 1.10%, Tata Motors down by 0.87% and Bajaj Finance down by 0.71% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing an optimism over India’s economic growth prospects, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman S Mahendra Dev has said that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 6.5 per cent in the current financial year (FY26), despite geo-political tensions and trade policy uncertainties. He further said that domestic growth will be driven by low inflation, resulting from good monsoon and benign interest rate regime, triggered by three back-to-back rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India. He noted that there are significant global headwinds like the twin shocks of geo-political tensions and trade policy uncertainties. But the Indian economy is resilient and continues to be the fastest growing country among large economies.

According to Dev, high-frequency indicators for the first two months of 2025-26 indicate resilient performance of the domestic economy. He said a 6.5 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for FY26 is feasible despite global uncertainties. India's medium-term growth prospects seem to be robust with sound fiscal management. He also emphasised that rising government capital expenditure will have positive impact on growth with a healthy expansion in private consumption. 

Regarding surge in net outward foreign direct investment (FDI), he pointed out that the World Investment report 2025 shows that global FDI inflows grew a marginal 3.7 per cent in gross FDI to $1,509 billion in 2024. He said this is much lower than the global FDI inflows that had peaked nine years ago at $2,219 billion in 2015. In other words, he said global FDI itself is growing slowly. Noting that India's FDI inflows have increased 14 per cent in FY25 -- although there was a moderation in net FDI -- he said it is known that there was net outward FDI and a rise in repatriation.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 25,255.30 and 25,121.05. There were 20 stocks advancing against 30 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.38%, Wipro up by 2.18%, Tech Mahindra up by 1.87%, Nestle up by 1.73% and SBI up by 1.72%. On the flip side, Shriram Finance down by 2.37%, Eternal down by 1.63%, Sun Pharma down by 1.36%, Cipla down by 1.35% and Tata Steel down by 1.07% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 13.74 points or 0.15% to 8,952.06, France’s CAC rose 4.13 points or 0.05% to 7,770.34 and Germany’s DAX gained 69.45 points or 0.29% to 24,129.74.