The key equity benchmarks pared most of the early gains in early afternoon trade amid profit booking and FII selling with the Nifty trading below 25,300. Market participants remained cautious ahead of Q3 earnings and cues from the World Economic Forum.
Pharma shares jumped after declining in the past nine trading consecutive sessions.
At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 241.43 points or 0.29% to 82,151.06. The Nifty 50 index jumped 104.45 points or 0.42% to 25,261.95.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.81% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.72%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,762 shares rose and 1,231 shares fell. A total of 196 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, jumped 1.74% to 14.02. The Nifty 27 January 2026 futures were trading at 25,282.40, at a premium of 20.45 points as compared with the spot at 25,261.95.
The Nifty option chain for the 27 January 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 138.6 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 101.3 lakh contracts was seen at 25,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Pharma index added 1.30% to 21,864.70. The index tumbled 7.31% in the previous nine consecutive trading sessions.
Dr Reddys Laboratories (up 5.56%), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals (up 1.97%), Lupin (up 1.62%), Aurobindo Pharma (up 1.36%), Alkem Laboratories (up 1.33%), Biocon (up 1.25%), Zydus Lifesciences (up 1.06%), Wockhardt (up 0.99%), Divis Laboratories (up 0.98%) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 0.74%) advanced.
Stocks in Spotlight:
eClerx Services rallied 4.64% after the company’s board is scheduled to meet on 28 January 2026 to deliberate on bonus shares and Q3 FY26 results.
Anant Raj rose 1.20% after the company reported a 30.75% year-on-year (YoY) increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 144.25 crore in Q3 FY26, compared with Rs 110.32 crore recorded in the same quarter last year. Revenue from operations jumped 20% YoY to Rs 641.59 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2025.
TANFAC Industries slipped 3.79% after the company reported 55.3% drop in net profit to Rs 15.57 crore on a 2.7% fall in net sales to Rs 173.30 crore in Q3 FY26 as compared with Q3 FY25.