Indian equity benchmarks staged a decent rally on Monday, driven by strong buying interest in Power, Utilities and Realty stocks. Traders overlooked exchange data showed foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 7,395.41 crore on Friday. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

India, UK bond built on trust, collaboration, shared ambition: Expressing optimism over trade relation between India and UK, UK’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia Harjinder Kang has said that the both the countries share a dynamic and forward-looking partnership built on trust, collaboration, and shared ambition.

India-US agreement to include India’s energy requirements: Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the interim trade agreement reached between the Centre and the US will cover India’s energy requirements and enable the country to obtain crude oil at more competitive rates.

India's WPI inflation sees rise in January: India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation rose in the month of January 2026 at 1.81% as compared to 0.83% in December 2025, driven by higher prices of non-food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas and manufactured items. 

Railway stocks remain in watch: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved three projects of the Railway Ministry, covering 12 districts across Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka, with a total cost of about Rs 18,509 crore. 

Global front: European markets were trading higher with investors looking ahead to the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent monetary policy meeting. Asian markets settled mostly higher despite a cautious undertone prevailed as AI fears continued to rattle markets. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 650.39 points or 0.79% to 83,277.15 and the CNX Nifty was up by 211.65 points or 0.83% to 25,682.75.     

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 83,333.49 and 82,276.95 respectively. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Power up by 2.40%, Utilities up by 2.15%, Realty up by 1.44%, PSU up by 1.30% and Bankex up by 1.20%, while Auto down by 0.79% and Consumer discretionary down by 0.32% were the losing indices on BSE. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid Corporation up by 4.45%, HDFC Bank up by 2.19%, Axis Bank up by 1.93%, NTPC up by 1.69% and ITC up by 1.39%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 1.44%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.13%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.08%, Trent down by 0.78% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, expressing optimism over trade relation between India and UK, UK’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia Harjinder Kang has said that the both the countries share a dynamic and forward-looking partnership built on trust, collaboration, and shared ambition. He said 2025 year can be noted as a milestone year in UK‑India relations, marked by the signing of a Free Trade Agreement, a shared India-UK Vision 2035, and reciprocal visits by Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Narendra Modi to each other’s countries. 

He added the past year reflects a partnership that is deeper, broader, and more forward-looking than ever before. He further said that this agreement underpins the UK-India relationship, spanning trade and investment, culture and education, defence, climate action, innovation, and people-to-people ties.

India and the UK, on July 24, 2025, signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) under which 99 per cent of Indian exports will enter the British market at zero duty, while tariffs on British products such as cars and whisky will be reduced in India. Meanwhile, the India-UK free trade agreement is likely to be implemented in April 2026.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,697.00 and 25,372.70 respectively. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Power Grid Corporation up by 4.74%, Coal India up by 3.26%, HDFC Bank up by 2.39%, Adani Enterprises up by 2.09% and Max Healthcare up by 2.03%. On the flip side, Kwality Wall's (India) down by 2.01%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.34%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.15%, Maruti Suzuki down by 1.14% and Tata Motors Passenger down by 0.91% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 20.1 points or 0.19% to 10,466.45, France’s CAC rose 21.66 points or 0.26% to 8,333.40 and Germany’s DAX gained 59.42 points or 0.24% to 24,974.30.

Asian markets settled mostly higher in thin trade on Monday, with China, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan markets closing for Lunar New Year holidays. Market sentiments improved further as softer-than-expected US inflation data boosted bets that the Federal Reserve will deliver at least two interest rate cuts this year. Markets were showing signs of stabilization after a tech-led plunge last week, when traders reacted to growing concern about the hundreds of billions spent on AI infrastructure and when, if ever, they might see a return on them.  However, Japan’s Nikkei fell after Japan reported its economy grew a miserly 0.2% annualised in the December quarter, far below the 1.6% gain forecast as government spending dragged on activity. Meanwhile, investors were closely watching upcoming macro cues, including the FOMC meeting minutes, the US GDP advance estimate, and PCE inflation data, for clearer signals on the timing and pace of the Fed’s next policy move.