Indian equity benchmarks maintained positive momentum throughout the day and surged over one and half per cent on Wednesday following a rally in global markets as crude oil prices fell below the $100 per barrel mark amid hopes of renewed diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

India’s growth to remain strong at 6.5% in 2027 despite West Asia tensions: Despite escalating tensions in West Asia, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook (WEO), has projected that India’s economy is likely grow at 6.5 per cent in 2027. 

India's WPI inflation accelerates further to 3.88% in March: India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation accelerated further in the month of March 2026 at 3.88% as compared to 2.13% in February 2026, driven by firming prices of crude petroleum & natural gas, amid ongoing tensions in West Asia.

Non-financial firms' sales rise in FY25: The Reserve Bank data showed net sales of non-financial private companies increased at a slower pace of 11.4 per cent in 2024-25 as compared to 11.7 per cent in the previous year. 

Auto stocks remain in watch: The industry body -- Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has said that the automobile wholesales in India reported the highest-ever sales in a fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26), driven by GST 2.0 reforms and multiple repo rate cuts during the year. 

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in green, while Asian markets ended mostly higher with investors largely reacting to corporate earnings updates, and awaiting a fresh round of negotiations between U.S. and Iran to end their conflict.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1263.67 points or 1.64% to 78,111.24 and the CNX Nifty was up by 388.65 points or 1.63% to 24,231.30.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 78,270.42 and 77,849.52, respectively. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 2.90%, Power up by 2.87%, Consumer Durables up by 2.84%, IT up by 2.78% and Capital Goods up by 2.54%, while there was no losing sectoral index on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Interglobe Aviation up by 4.63%, Eternal up by 4.36%, Power Grid Corporation up by 4.11%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 3.39% and Tech Mahindra up by 3.33%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.64% and ICICI Bank down by 0.20% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has showed that net sales of non-financial private companies increased at a slower pace of 11.4 per cent in 2024-25 (FY25) as compared to 11.7 per cent in the previous year. The RBI published data relating to financial performance of non-government non-financial (NGNF) private limited companies during 2024-25 based on audited annual accounts of select 15,919 firms reported in the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) format.

It highlighted that services sector registered a 13.5 per cent growth in net sales during 2024-25, led by 'Trade -- wholesale & retail', 'Real Estate' and 'Transport and Storage services' sub-sectors. Sales growth in the manufacturing sector moderated marginally to 9.2 per cent in 2024-25 from 9.4 per cent in the previous year. Total paid-up capital (PUC) of these companies amounted to Rs 8,44,198 crore as at end-March 2025, which covered 40.3 per cent of the total PUC of NGNF private limited companies. 

It stated at the aggregate level, operating expenses increased at a faster pace in 2024-25 as compared to the previous year, mainly due to higher manufacturing expenses and employee remuneration. Remuneration to employees grew in the services sector, while it eased in the manufacturing sector. Besides, it mentioned operating profit and profit after tax continued to show double-digit growth in 2024-25 on top of high growth in 2023-24. Gross capital formation (which includes fixed assets and inventories) accounted for 48.2 per cent of total fund usage, rising from 45.3% in the previous year.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 24,280.90 and 24,145.80, respectively. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.     

The top gainers on Nifty were Interglobe Aviation up by 4.35%, Power Grid Corporation up by 4.21%, Eternal up by 4.14%, Max Healthcare up by 4.06% and Wipro up by 3.46%. On the flip side, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 1.23%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.72% and ICICI Bank down by 0.30% were the top losers.

European markets were trading mostly in green; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 7.1 points or 0.07% to 10,616.16 and Germany’s DAX gained 7.78 points or 0.03% to 24,052.00, while France’s CAC fell 36.16 points or 0.44% to 8,291.70.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday following positive cues from the US markets overnight amid rising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Middle East conflict. A White House official said that a second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations are being considered, though no official schedule has been set. China and Hong Kong markets ended higher after a private report said that China’s finance ministry indicated that it will issue 15.5 billion yuan-denominated treasury bonds in Hong Kong on April 22. However, some cautiousness prevailed in the markets as the U.S. blockade targeting Iranian ports could pressure remaining flows, with Washington reporting that several vessels had already turned back in the first 24 hours, even as transit via non-Iranian ports continues.