Extending gains for a second consecutive session, Indian equity benchmarks ended over half percent higher on Monday tracking gains in Healthcare, Power and Auto stocks, as investors' sentiments improved after the US Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs. However, foreign fund outflows, coupled with geopolitical concerns, capped further gains. 

Some of the important factors in trade: 

Growth in eight key infrastructure sectors eases to 4% in January: The Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest data has showed that the output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4 per cent in January 2026 as compared to 5.1 per cent in the same month last year. 

India unveils 7 additional interventions under EPM to strengthen global competitiveness: With an aim to address key challenges faced by Indian exporters, promote broad-based and inclusive export growth, the government has launched seven additional interventions under the Export Promotion Mission (EPM). 

India, Brazil sign agreement to support MSMEs, green finance: India and Brazil have entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore areas of mutual collaboration for the benefit of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and facilitate their access to green finance. 

Pharma stocks in watch: The commerce ministry has said that the India’s pharmaceutical exports continued to show steady growth in the 2024-25 fiscal year, surging 9.4 percent to $30.47 billion over the previous year.  

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green, while Asian markets settled higher on Monday despite fresh uncertainty attributed to the trade tariff environment triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on tariffs.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 479.95 points or 0.58% to 83,294.66 and the CNX Nifty was up by 141.75 points or 0.55% to 25,713.00.        

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 83,486.15 and 82,906.83 respectively. There were 19 stocks advancing against 12 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Healthcare up by 0.76%, Power up by 0.72%, Auto up by 0.71%, FMCG up by 0.54% and Utilities up by 0.52%, while IT down by 1.37%, TECK down by 0.67%, Metal down by 0.20%, Bankex down by 0.19% and Realty down by 0.13% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.98%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.22%, Ultratech Cement up by 1.55%, Power Grid Corporation up by 1.49% and Axis Bank up by 1.34%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.80%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.06%, Trent down by 0.83%, HCL Technologies down by 0.74% and Bajaj Finserv down by 0.53% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency ICRA has estimated that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth likely to ease to 7.2% in third quarter of current fiscal year (Q3FY26) as compared to 8.2% in Q2FY26. It noted that robust performance in the industrial sector may be outweighed by slow growth in sectors such as services and agriculture. The growth in services sector likely to fell to 7.8% in Q3FY26 as against 9.2% in Q2FY26, and agriculture sector growth came down to 3.0% in Q3FY26 as against 3.5% in Q2FY26. However, the industrial sector growth picked up to a six-quarter high of 8.3% Q3FY26 from 7.7% in Q2FY26.

The rating agency has estimated that the Y-o-Y growth in the services gross value added (GVA) to moderate to 7.8% in Q3FY26 from 9.2% in Q2FY26, dampened by lower expansion in Government spending and services exports. The government’s capital expenditure dipped to Rs 2.1 trillion in Q3FY26 from Rs 3.1 trillion in Q2FY26. Notwithstanding a broadly favourable trend in kharif output, the GVA growth of agriculture, forestry and fishing may moderate in Q3FY26 (from growth of 6.6% in Q3FY25) relative to 3.5% recorded in Q2FY26 (4.1% in Q2FY25), particularly on account of the high base (this may undergo a change in the new series).

ICRA also pegged the industrial GVA growth to record a broad-based improvement to a six-quarter high of 8.3% in Q3FY26 from 7.7% in Q2FY26, supporting the overall expansion in the said quarter. ICRA has projected the manufacturing GVA to record a high-single digit growth in Q3FY26 (9.1% in Q2FY26). Among the other industrial sub-segments, mining output witnessed a Y-o-Y expansion of 3.8% in Q3FY26 after two consecutive quarters of contraction, partly reflecting the easing of disruptions caused by monsoons and unseasonal rainfall. Besides, construction-related indicators such as infrastructure/construction goods (10.7% in Q3FY26 against 11.6% in Q2FY26) also posted a healthy rise in output, suggesting that construction GVA growth likely remained robust in the Q3FY26 (7.2% in Q2FY26).

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,771.45 and 25,609.35 respectively. There were 35 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports &SEZ up by 2.81%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 2.24%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 1.97%, Dr. Reddy's Lab up by 1.93% and UltraTech Cement up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 2.23%, Wipro down by 1.89%, Infosys down by 1.86%, Tech Mahindra down by 1.35% and Cipla down by 1.05% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.76 points or 0.01% to 10,687.65 and France’s CAC rose 8.11 points or 0.1% to 8,523.60, while Germany’s DAX lost 74.49 points or 0.29% to 25,186.20.

Asian markets settled higher on Monday, tracking Wall Streets’ gains last Friday. Hong Kong shares rallied amid expectations that China will face lower tariffs after the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariff measures. The sentiments were also boosted further by news that Hong Kong will spend 4 billion Hong Kong Dollar in public funds to buy back the ownership rights of the seven fire-damaged buildings at Wang Fuk Court. The benchmark Kospi extended last week’s gains to reach a new record high, buoyed by strong performances in the chip and auto sectors. Further, Kospi got support by strong trade data that showed South Korea’s exports rising 23.5% year-on-year to $43.5 billion in the first 20 days of February 2026. The Japanese stock market was closed for Emperor's Birthday and Chinese market remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.