Sensex jumps 646 points in early trade on optimism over India-EU FTA

Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade, extending gains on optimism over the landmark India-EU free trade agreement. Banking, energy and defence stocks led advances, while Asian Paints slid on weak earnings. FIIs sold, DIIs bought heavily amid global cues

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade on Wednesday, extending their previous day’s rally, on optimism over India-EU FTA.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 646.49 points to 82,503.97 during initial trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 196.7 points to 25,372.10.

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From the 30-Sensex firms, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Bharat Electronics, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance were among the major gainers.

However, Asian Paints dropped nearly 6 per cent after the firm reported a decline of 4.83 per cent in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,073.92 crore in the December quarter of FY26 on a year-on-year basis on account of exceptional items as implementation of the new labour code and impairment of loss in a subsidiary.

Maruti, HCL Tech, Kotak Mahindra Bank and State Bank of India were among the other laggards.

India and the European Union on Tuesday sealed a landmark free trade agreement– billed as the “mother of all deals” — to create a market of two billion people with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top EU leadership unveiling a transformative five-year agenda to largely leverage trade and defence in protecting the rules-based world order.

The free trade agreement that will account for almost a quarter of the global GDP will reduce tariffs on 99 per cent of Indian exports to the EU and cut duties on over 97 per cent of the EU’s exports to India, according to officials.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,068.49 crore on Tuesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) outnumbered them by buying stocks worth Rs 8,999.71 crore, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index quoted lower.

US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.52 per cent to USD 67.92 per barrel.

“FIIs continued their selling spree with cash market selling of Rs 3,068 crore. DIIs, flush with funds, aggressively bought beaten down fundamentally strong stocks for a massive Rs 8,999 crore. After the India-EU trade deal, which is a big long-term positive, investors are now focused on the Union Budget to be presented on Feb first,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

On Tuesday, the Sensex climbed 319.78 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 81,857.48. The Nifty surged 126.75 points or 0.51 per cent to end at 25,175.40.