Mumbai, February 25: The Indian stock market closed with modest gains on Wednesday, shrugging off intraday volatility to end on a positive note. The BSE Sensex rose 50.15 points, or 0.06%, to settle at 82,276.07, while the Nifty 50 climbed 57.85 points, or 0.23%, at 25,482.50.
Trading sessions were marked by sharp swings, with early strength from IT stocks pushing the Sensex to a high of 82,957.91. However, late selling in large-cap counters pulled it back. Metals and autos stepped up to support the indices, with Nifty Metal surging 2.70% and Nifty Auto and Pharma both up 1.85%.
Other gainers included Nifty Healthcare at 1.59%, Nifty IT at 1.57%, Nifty India Manufacturing at 1.35%, Nifty India Defence at 0.93%, and Nifty Commodities at 0.75%. In contrast, Nifty PSU Bank fell 0.39%, Nifty Infra 0.30%, Nifty FMCG 0.25%, and Nifty Realty 0.19%.
Midcaps and smallcaps outperformed, with Nifty Midcap 100 up 0.58% at 59,406.10 and Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.94% to 17,118.70. Top Sensex performers were HCL Tech, Tata Steel, TCS, Indigo, Sun Pharma, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, BEL, L&T, Tech Mahindra, Titan, NTPC, Power Grid, HUL, and UltraTech Cement. Losers included SBI, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, and Trent.
Market experts attribute the recovery to renewed foreign investor interest. Despite yesterday’s FII selling of Rs 102.53 crore, Monday saw net buying of Rs 3,483.70 crore in the cash market. This shift signals growing optimism, potentially setting the stage for sustained momentum if global cues remain supportive.