SENSEX, NIFTY50 post best day in over five months, NIFTY Bank closes at record high

The Indian equity benchmarks posted their best day in over five months on Wednesday, November 26, mirroring gains in global markets on rising expectations of rate cut by the United States Federal Reserve in December. The SENSEX surged as much as 1,057 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 26,215 on the back of a broad-based buying interest.

The SENSEX climbed 1,022.50 points or 1.21% to close at 85,609.51 and NIFTY50 index advanced 320.50 points or 1.24% to settle at 25,205.30. Last time the SENSEX and NIFTY surged over 1.2% was on June 20, 2025, data from stock exchanges showed.

Global markets surge

Asian markets extended gains to a third straight session on Wednesday tracking gains on Wall Street as latest consumer data boosted hopes of Federal Reserve rate cut next month. Meanwhile, reports of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine also added to the bullish sentiment in Wednesday's session.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.9%, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 2.67%, Taiwan Weighted added 1.54% and Hing Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.13%.

Overnight, Wall Street extended its rally on Tuesday as a spate of economic data appeared to support the case for the US Federal Reserve to implement its third and final rate cut of the year in December, while softness in the tech sector limited the Nasdaq's gains, news agency Reuters reported.

Broad-based buying interest

Buying was visible across board as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's 2% gain. NIFTY Bank and NIFTY PSU Bank indices rose 1.2% and 0.77% respectively with both the sector gauges hitting fresh record highs during the session.

Nifty Auto, Private Bank, IT, Pharma, Realty, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 1%-1.75%.

Broader markets were in line with their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 1.27% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index jumped 1.36%.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

In the NIFTY50 basket of shares 44 ended higher while only six stocks closed lower.

JSW Steel was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 3.69% to close at ₹1,153. HDFC Life, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Jio Financial Services, InterGlobe Aviation, Coal India, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Grasim Industries also rose between 1.9%-2.8%.

On the flipside, Bharti Airtel dropped 1.6% on reports of a block deals.

Adani Enterprises, Eicher Motors, SBI Life, Asian Paints and State Bank of India were also among the notable losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,805 shares ended higher while 1,367 closed lower on the BSE.