Domestic equity indices maintained their gains and were trading higher by over one percent in late morning deals as market participants indulged in enlarging their positions. Hectic buying in Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Industries companies’ stocks helped both Sensex and Nifty to trade above their psychological 77,700 and 24,250 levels respectively. Traders overlooked report that India's industrial production growth slowed down to a 5-month low of 4.1 per cent in March, mainly due to subdued performance of manufacturing and power sector amid the West Asia crisis. Most of the sectoral indices on the BSE were trading in green led by Auto, Realty, TECK, Energy and FMCG. 

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green despite negative cues from the US markets overnight. Back home, in the stock specific development, Ceat surged as the company, on consolidated basis, reported over 2-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 243.85 crore for Q4FY26 as compared to Rs 99.49 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 77783.47, up by 896.56 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 77136.20 and 77879.68. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.98%, Realty up by 1.96%, TECK up by 1.57%, Energy up by 1.38% and FMCG up by 1.35%, while Utilities down by 0.27% was the only losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.47%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.43%, ITC up by 2.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.55% and Reliance Industries up by 2.14%. On the flip side, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.88%, Asian Paints down by 0.20%, Bajaj Finserv down by 0.17%, ICICI Bank down by 0.14% and NTPC down by 0.09% were the top losers.
Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that he will visit Canada in May to accelerate negotiations for a proposed free trade agreement (FTA). On March 2, the two countries launched negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

Talking about other trade pacts, the minister said negotiations are going slow with the six-nation bloc of Middle Eastern nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) due to ongoing West Asia conflict. He said FTA discussions are going on with Chile (Chilean), whose minister is scheduled to visit India on May 12 and discussions with Peru are also progressing. He said ‘we will open the other four markets also, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.’ He said ‘we are also talking to Eurasia, SACU (South Africa Customs Union), upgrading PTA (preferential trade agreement) with Brazil, and other Mercosur countries.’

In February, India and the GCC started negotiations for a proposed FTA. GCC is India's largest trading partner bloc, which accounted for 15.42% of India’s global trade in FY 2024-25. India's exports to the GCC grew by about one per cent to $57 billion in 2024-25 against $56.32 billion in 2023-24. Imports rose by 15.33 per cent to $121.7 billion in 2024-25 from $105.5 billion in 2023-24. Bilateral trade has increased to $178.7 billion in 2024-25 from $161.82 billion in 2023-24. The grouping members are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May 2022. India and Oman also signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in Muscat on December 18, 2025.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 24277.35, up by 281.65 points or 1.17% after trading in a range of 24059.95 and 24298.95. There were 41 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Maruti Suzuki up by 4.44%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.58%, Coal India up by 3.16%, ITC up by 2.97% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.58%. On the flip side, Interglobe Aviation down by 0.88%, Adani Enterprises down by 0.39%, Hindalco down by 0.33%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.30% and Asian Paints down by 0.16% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Jakarta Composite gained 8.24 points or 0.12% to 7,080.63, Shanghai Composite strengthened 24.58 points or 0.6% to 4,103.22, KOSPI increased 52.68 points or 0.79% to 6,693.70 and Hang Seng advanced 359.22 points or 1.38% to 26,039.00. However, Taiwan Weighted lost 209.78 points or 0.53% to 39,311.95 and Straits Times fell 23.55 points or 0.48% to 4,864.14.