Indian equity benchmarks trimmed most of their sharp intra-day gains and ended marginally higher on Wednesday, amid profit-taking. The initial strength tapered off as renewed tariff-focused comments from the US President reignited global trade concerns, limiting the day's gains. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

Indian economy under revised series likely to grow at 8.1% in Q3FY26: A research report from State Bank of India's (SBI’s) Economic Research Department has showed that the Indian economy is likely to record a growth rate close to 8.1 per cent for Q3FY26 under the revised series with the new base year of 2022-23. 

India building trade bridges amid global uncertainty: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that despite global uncertainty, India is building bridges of trade, trust and transformation, and now enjoys preferential trade access to nearly two-thirds of global trade owing to a series of high-quality FTAs concluded under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   

India, GCC ink pact for FTA negotiations to boost trade, investment: India and the six-nation bloc of Middle Eastern nations -- the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have inked the Joint Statement on the India-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and launched negotiations for a comprehensive and mutually beneficial agreement. 

Diamond stocks in watch: India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the domestic jewellery retail industry is expected to record nearly 18 per cent revenue growth in FY27, with rising bullion prices expected to drive value growth. 

Global front: European markets were trading higher after Anthropic announced new partnerships, helping ease artificial-intelligence disruption concerns. Asian markets settled mostly higher as AI disruption worries eased and investors looked ahead to Nvidia's earnings report later in the day for fresh signals on the durability of artificial intelligence demand. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 50.15 points or 0.06% to 82,276.07 and the CNX Nifty was up by 57.85 points or 0.23% to 25,482.50.        

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,957.91 and 82,132.63 respectively. There were 19 stocks advancing against 11 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.64%, Auto up by 1.82%, Basic Materials up by 1.49%, IT up by 1.39% and Healthcare up by 1.35%, while Telecom down by 0.97%, FMCG down by 0.32%, Realty down by 0.13% and Energy down by 0.09% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Technologies up by 2.80%, Tata Steel up by 2.63%, TCS up by 2.14%, Interglobe Aviation up by 1.95% and Sun Pharma up by 1.84%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 2.23%, SBI down by 1.93%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.72%, Eternal down by 1.46% and Bharti Airtel down by 1.39% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, a research report from State Bank of India's (SBI’s) Economic Research Department has showed that the Indian economy is likely to record a growth rate close to 8.1 per cent for the September-December quarter of current fiscal year (Q3FY26) under the revised series with the new base year of 2022-23. It also said given significant methodological changes, it is difficult to predict the direction of revision.

It said high-frequency activity data indicates resilient economic activity in Q3FY26. It noted that rural consumption remains strong, driven by positive signals from farm and non-farm activity. It said urban consumption shows a consistent uptick since the last festive season, supported by fiscal stimulus.

It further said Scheduled Commercial Banks' (SCBs) deposit growth remains muted compared to credit growth. It said with the rise in CD ratio, the gap between deposits and credit growth has increased, but such gaps are nothing new to the banking system. As per the latest RBI data, aggregate deposits grew by 12.5 per cent, while credit grew by 14.6 per cent.

India witnessed a growth rate of 8 per cent in the first half of the ongoing financial year ending in March 2026 (H1FY26). According to the first advance estimate of the National Statistics Office (NSO) last month, real GDP has been estimated to grow by 7.4 per cent in FY 2025-26 against the growth rate of 6.5 per cent in the previous financial year. The second advance estimates of GDP for FY26, incorporating additional data and revisions, are scheduled to be released on February 27.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,652.60 and 25,428.20 respectively. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Technologies up by 2.74%, Bajaj Auto up by 2.74%, Tata Steel up by 2.43%, Shriram Finance up by 2.19% and TCS up by 2.15%. On the flip side, Reliance Industries down by 1.96%, SBI down by 1.96%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.70%, Eternal down by 1.54% and ITC down by 1.33% were the top losers.  

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 101.21 points or 0.95% to 10,781.80, France’s CAC rose 28.19 points or 0.33% to 8,547.40 and Germany’s DAX gained 134.65 points or 0.54% to 25,120.90.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street’s gains overnight followed by strong rebound in technology shares after a major multiyear deal between Advanced Micro Devices and Meta Platforms. Meanwhile, investors also reacted to Trump's comments in the annual address before a joint session of Congress that most of the US trading partners want to keep the deal that they already made with his administration and that tariffs will replace income tax as time goes by. Seoul shares surged to a new record fuelled by strong advances in technology shares and optimism ahead of Nvidia’s earnings release, which due later in the day. Chinese shares gained as Shanghai eased homebuying rules in the latest attempt by authorities to contain the nation's prolonged property slump. Japanese markets hit a new record after PM Sanae Takaichi's government nominated two new dovish-leaning academics to the Bank of Japan's nine-member board, prompting traders to pare expectations of a near-term rate hike.