Indian equity benchmarks ended flat on Wednesday as investors booked profits at higher levels following three consecutive sessions of gains. After making a positive start, soon indices turned volatile and were hovering around the neutral lines for most of the session, as traders remained cautious ahead of India’s January inflation data, scheduled to be released tomorrow.

Some of the important factors in trade:

India’s exports maintain positive growth in January: Traders overlooked Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said that India's goods and services exports have registered positive growth so far this year and are estimated to remain positive in January as well, despite global economic uncertainties.

India protects key sectors under interim trade agreement with US: Traders paid no head towards Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal’s statement that India has always negotiated with a ‘clear mindset’ on sectors that are ‘very’ sensitive for the country in trade pacts and has protected all those key segments under the interim trade agreement with the US.

India, UK ink pact to end double social security contributions: Traders took note of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India and the UK have inked an agreement that is aimed at eliminating double payments on social security contributions by employees on short-term tenure of up to three years.

On the global front: European equity markets were trading mostly in the red, as investors awaited key U.S. jobs and inflation data for direction. Asian markets ended higher after China's annual consumer price inflation unexpectedly cooled from 0.8 percent in December to 0.2 percent in January.

The BSE Sensex ended at 84233.64, down by 40.28 points or 0.05% after trading in a range of 84081.25 and 84487.34. There were 14 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 1.36%, Auto up by 1.23%, Realty up by 0.59%, PSU up by 0.55% and Telecom up by 0.55%, while IT down by 1.73%, TECK down by 1.05%, Industrials down by 0.04% and FMCG down by 0.04% were the few losing indices on BSE. (Provisional)

The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI up by 3.31%, Maruti Suzuki up by 1.83%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.00%, Trent up by 0.84% and Reliance Industries up by 0.61%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.61%, Infosys down by 1.85%, HCL Technologies down by 1.50%, Eternal down by 0.95% and ITC down by 0.93% were the top losers. (Provisional)

Meanwhile, the National Statistics Office (NSO) in its quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) has showed that the rate of unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above in cities declined marginally to 6.7 per cent in October-December 2025 from 6.9 per cent in the previous quarter. In rural areas, the unemployment rate (UR) or joblessness among those aged 15 years and above declined to 4 per cent in October-December 2025 from 4.4 per cent in the previous quarter (July-September 2025), helped by lower unemployment rates among rural males as well as females.

The urban unemployment rate for the 15-year-old and above decreased to 6.7 per cent as compared to 6.9 per cent reported in the preceding quarter. The lower rate of unemployment was driven by a decline in urban male UR from 6.2 per cent during July-September, 2025, to 5.9 per cent in the quarter under review. Both rural and urban UR among persons aged 15 years and above declined during October-December 2025. The proportion of self-employed persons aged 15 years and above in rural areas increased to 63.2 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 62.8 per cent recorded in the July-September quarter. In urban areas, the share of self-employed persons of the same age group stood at 39.7 per cent during the quarter ending December 2025, compared to 39.3 per cent recorded in July-September 2025.

About the concentration of rural workforce in the primary sector and urban workforce in the tertiary sector, the data showed that rural areas maintained a similar pattern, with a majority of workers engaged in the agriculture sector, accounting for 58.5 per cent during October-December 2025, up from 57.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter. In urban areas, the tertiary sector remained stable, engaging 61.9 per cent of workers during October-December 2025.

The CNX Nifty ended at 25953.85, up by 18.70 points or 0.07% after trading in a range of 25899.80 and 26009.40. There were 28 stocks advancing against 22 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Eicher Motors up by 6.51%, Apollo Hospital up by 3.99%, SBI up by 3.39%, Max Healthcare up by 3.29% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.76%. On the flip side, TCS down by 2.51%, Coal India down by 1.79%, Infosys down by 1.73%, HCL Technologies down by 1.37% and Eternal down by 1.02% were the top losers. (Provisional)

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 44.88 points or 0.54% to 8,283.00 and Germany’s DAX lost 33.45 points or 0.13% to 24,954.40, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 37.76 points or 0.36% to 10,391.60.