Indian equity benchmarks ended in positive terrain with strong gains on Wednesday, supported by strong buying interest in IT stocks after US President Donald Trump defended the H-1 B visa scheme, saying that the country needs to bring in talent for certain fields. Markets made a gap-up opening and sustained their momentum throughout the day, amid optimism surrounding a potential India-U.S. trade agreement. Additionally, a private report noted that Bihar exit polls indicated a likely win for the incumbent NDA alliance. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

Net direct tax collection grows 7% so far in FY26: Traders were optimistic as the government data showed that Net direct tax collection has grown 7 per cent so far this fiscal year to over Rs 12.92 lakh crore on higher corporate tax mop-up and slower refunds. 

Next generation GST reforms lead to growth in sales across sectors: Some support came with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s that the implementation of next generation GST reforms on September 22 has led to a growth in sales across sectors, including automobiles, consumer durables, e-commerce among others.

India wants fair, equitable, balanced trade deal with US: Traders took note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India wants a fair, equitable, balanced trade deal with the US and it will not compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen, and the dairy sector.

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green as investors were positive with the data showing that Germany's consumer price inflation weakened in October after rising for two straight months. Asian markets ended mostly in green amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown of 42 days and expectations of the US Fed cutting interest-rate next month. 

The BSE Sensex ended at 84466.51, up by 595.19 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 84166.75 and 84652.01. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.44%, while Small cap index was up by 0.76%. (Provisional)

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.95%, Consumer Durables up by 1.86%, TECK up by 1.77%, Telecom up by 1.23% and Auto up by 1.15%, while Realty down by 0.50%, Utilities down by 0.05% and Metal down by 0.01% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were Asian Paints up by 6.79%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.34%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.63%, TCS up by 2.52% and Adani Ports &Special up by 2.18%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 1.30%, Tata Motors Passenger down by 1.24%, Bharat Electronics down by 0.89%, TMCV down by 0.79%, and Kotak Mahindra Bank down by 0.35% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the Crisil’s Financial Conditions Index (FCI) has showed an improvement in India’s domestic financial conditions in the month of October amid heightened optimism over country’s economic output. Crisil’s FCI rose to -0.3 in October, 2025 from -0.6 in September, 2025. This marks easier conditions but still below the long-term average. The FCI combines key market indicators such as interest rates, bonds, equities, and exchange rates into a single measure to show how tight or easy financing conditions are in an economy. Crisil highlighted that the rise in FCI was primarily driven by a return of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to Indian markets after four months, energising both debt and equity segments amid easing US yields and heightened optimism over India’s economic outlook as well as anticipated trade advances with the United States.

It has pointed out that the October witnessed robust FPI inflows, with investments totalling $4 billion, the first after four months and highest in the year so far. The debt segment inflows led with $2.1 billion, while equities rebounded with $1.7 billion, reversing previous outflows. It noted that the domestic markets have posted their strongest monthly gains since May, aided further by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) proposed reforms to improve credit flow by revising lending norms, alongside a broadly stable Rupee and improving credit growth. Despite these supportive factors, moderating liquidity emerged as a drag, attributed to increased currency circulation during the festive season and likely RBI dollar sales aimed at protecting the rupee.

However, it said that the liquidity surplus was cushioned by a 25-basis point cut in the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), which helped buffer the banking system. Further, Indian equity indices, the Sensex and Nifty 50, rose 2.2 per cent each on average in October, with the RBI raising its GDP growth forecast to 6.8 per cent from 6.5 per cent. Moreover, the rupee remained steady at 88.4 to the dollar, supported by FPI flows and RBI intervention, while bond yields held firm at 6.52 per cent. Besides, it noted that Brent crude prices eased 4.9 per cent on-month and were 14.6 per cent lower on-year, driven by supply adequacy and slowing global growth concerns. Going forward, Crisil expects the FCI to remain within the comfort zone for the rest of fiscal 2026, buoyed by the CRR cuts and potential for further rate reductions.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25875.80, up by 180.85 points or 0.70% after trading in a range of 25781.15 and 25934.55. There were 36 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 5.04%, Asian Paints up by 4.24%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.48%, TCS up by 2.78% and HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.51%. On the flip side, TMCV down by 1.49%, Tata Steel down by 1.32%, Tata Motors Passenger down by 1.30%, Shriram Finance down by 1.23% and Grasim Industries down by 0.63% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in green; Germany’s DAX gained 300.54 points or 1.25% to 24,388.60, and UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 9.73 points or 0.1% to 9,889.87, while France’s CAC rose 78.47 points or 0.96% to 8,234.70.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday with Seoul shares rising sharply followed by progress toward ending the longest government shutdown in the US history. Japanese shares gained as yen slides, even after Japan's SoftBank Group sold its entire stake in Nvidia Corp for $5.83 billion to help bankroll AI investments. However, Chinese shares declined marginally ahead the release of key Chinese economic data for October, including credit growth, industrial output, and retail sales.