The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in the early afternoon trade. Nifty traded tad above the 25,950 mark. Metal stocks extended gains for the third consecutive trading session.
At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 303.49 points or 0.36% to 84,369.24. The Nifty 50 index rose 87.65 points or 0.34% to 25,955.65.
In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.60%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,658 shares rose and 1,371 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.05% to 11.94. The Nifty 24 February 2026 futures were trading at 26,004.20, at a premium of 48.55 points as compared with the spot at 25,955.65.
The Nifty option chain for the 24 February 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 55.6 lakh contracts at the 26,000 strike price. Maximum put OI of 58.4 lakh contracts was seen at the 25,500 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index rose 0.75% to 12,219.85. The index rose 2.51% in the three consecutive trading sessions.
Tata Steel (up 2.55%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.43%), Vedanta (up 1.21%), NMDC (up 0.9%), JSW Steel (up 0.77%), National Aluminium Company (up 0.64%), APL Apollo Tubes (up 0.56%), Hindalco Industries (up 0.52%), Hindustan Copper (up 0.47%) and Jindal Steel (up 0.43%) jumped.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Texmaco Rail & Engineering slipped 2.38% after the company reported a 44.65% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 42.27 crore in Q3 FY26, compared to Rs 76.38 crore posted in Q3 FY25. Revenue from operations fell 21.45% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 1,041.59 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2025.
Gravita India advanced 1.27% after the company announced the signing of a binding term sheet for the proposed acquisition of an equity stake of up to 100% in Rasthriya Metal Industries (RMIL) by way of a share purchase agreement (SPA).