Nifty nears 25,600, Sensex jumps nearly 900 points as banking, FMCG stocks rally

Bulls charged on Dalal Street on October 16.

Dalal Street extended its bullish momentum to the second session, with Nifty 50 and Sensex gaining one percent each, as banking and consumer stocks led the rally.

At close, the Sensex was up 862.23 points or 1.04 percent at 83,467.66, and the Nifty was up 261.75 points or 1.03 percent at 25,585.30. About 2240 shares advanced, 1756 shares declined, and 138 shares unchanged.

Sectoral indices were mostly in the green, with the Nifty FMCG index leading gains, rising over 2 percent, followed by Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Auto, which added around 1.5 and 1.3 percent respectively. Financial stocks also supported the rally, as Nifty Private Bank climbed 1.48 percent and Nifty Financial Services gained 0.7 percent, while the Nifty Realty index was up 1.9 percent.

However, PSU banks bucked the trend, slipping 0.44 percent, while other sectors such as IT, Pharma, and Metal posted modest advances.

The session's gains were broad-based, led by Realty, Auto, FMCG, and Private Banking stocks. Sentiment was further lifted by expectations of a Q3FY26 demand revival, early signs of FII inflows, supported by dovish commentary from the US Fed, and a softer dollar index.

"The recent appreciation of the INR also reinforced the positive undertone. While near-term momentum remains favourable, sustained performance will depend on signs of earnings growth from ongoing corporate results and developments in global trade," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments.

On the technical front, the index also broke out above a major falling trend line that connects all key tops since the previous record high of 26,277, indicating the potential for further upside in the coming sessions.

On the derivatives front, fresh long positions are being built, reinforcing the bullish sentiment. Momentum indicators and oscillators continue to signal a buy on both daily and weekly charts. "Overall, the trend remains positive, with Nifty likely to head towards 25,800–26,000 levels in the short term, while support has now shifted higher to around 25,420," said Nilesh Jain, Head – Technical and Derivatives Research Analyst (Equity Research), Centrum Broking.

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