Indian stock markets opened higher on Thursday, with Sensex advancing 552.69 points or 0.74% to 76,715.08 and Nifty 50 jumping 86.40 points or 0.36% to 23,959.85 as of 10:25 IST. According to Business Standard, this positive start occurred after a significant decline in the previous session, with broader markets also performing well, with BSE 150 MidCap Index rising 0.34% and BSE 250 SmallCap Index adding 0.47%. The market breadth remained strong with 2,385 shares rising and 1,333 shares falling on the BSE, while 267 shares remained unchanged. The Gift Nifty September 2026 futures had earlier jumped 17.50 points to 24,090 around 7:50 am, signalling a positive opening after three consecutive sessions of losses.
A significant positive development from the rupee perspective is the huge mobilisation of $136.38 billion under concessional swap facility, with $127.23 billion mobilised under the FCNR(B) scheme coming way above the consensus estimates. As reported by Business Standard, the Reserve Bank of India confirmed that forex inflows under its special USD-INR forex swap facility stood at $136.38 billion as of 31 August 2026, with overseas foreign currency borrowings contributing $5.26 billion and external commercial borrowings accounting for $3.89 billion. The implication of this from the market perspective is that the rupee will stabilise, imparting confidence to FIIs. Vijayakumar noted that with improving growth and earnings prospects, FIIs are likely to continue buying in India, despite the elevated US bond yields. The huge FCNR(B) mobilisation by banks will help improve their NIMs, which is positive for banking stocks.
The Nifty Realty index jumped 0.71% to 922.65, extending its remarkable rally for the third consecutive trading session with a cumulative gain of 3.52%. According to Business Standard, all 10 stocks constituting the index advanced on Thursday, with the sector demonstrating exceptional momentum. Prestige Estates Projects gained 1.68%, Anant Raj rose 1.07%, Oberoi Realty advanced 1.04%, DLF added 0.8%, Aditya Birla Real Estate surged 0.7%, Sobha climbed 0.69%, Godrej Properties gained 0.45%, Lodha Developers rose 0.19%. Anant Raj surged 9% to ₹640.25 on heavy volume with 21.23 million equity shares changing hands on NSE and BSE, driven by the company's plan to demerge its data center and cloud business into a separately listed entity called Ashok Cloud. Brigade Enterprises soared 8% to ₹694.05, while Godrej Properties, Aditya Birla Real Estate, Prestige Estates Projects and Sobha were up 4% each.
Speaking on the outlook for the Nifty 50, Parekh noted that the 50-stock index sustained near the 24,150 zone during the session and witnessed resistance near this level before slipping heavily with profit booking seen to end near the 24,000 level. As reported by LiveMint, the index would continue to have the important resistance hurdle of 24,400 zone, which needs to be breached decisively to expect a fresh further upward move. On the downside, the 23,800 zone shall be the important and crucial support area, which needs to be sustained to maintain the overall trend intact. Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments, said Nifty's swing higher from 23,800 supports hopes of a push higher, but he is not confident of chasing prices higher either. The favoured view requires a break above 24,150-24,215 region to signal strength, with downside marker placed near 23,860.
Despite the improved market sentiment, caution is still warranted as oil prices continue to remain above $95 per barrel as uncertainty over US-Iran conflict continues to spook investors. As reported by The Economic Times, Vijayakumar noted that an interesting feature of yesterday's market decline is that the 141 point dip in Nifty happened despite a ₹9,500 crores of institutional buying, with FIIs buy figure of ₹6,688 crores and DII buy figure of ₹2,812 crores. The brunt of the selling came from retail investors, proprietary traders and bears who used the market weakness to hammer the stocks down, which is likely to reverse today. The global backdrop has improved significantly after US President Donald Trump played down the prospect of a prolonged conflict with Iran, helping Asian stocks recover and oil prices ease from elevated levels. Market participants will closely track the upcoming quarterly earnings announcements of recently listed companies over the next few weeks for insights into operating performance, earnings visibility and demand trends.
