The headline equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in early afternoon trade, buoyed by improved risk appetite after India and the European Union clinched a landmark trade agreement. The development pushed the headline indices further into record-high territory.
The Nifty traded above 25,250 mark. Media shares advanced after declining for previous two consecutive trading session.
At 12:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 278.31 points or 0.34% to 82,130.72. The Nifty 50 index rose 97.90 points or 0.38% to 25,272.20.
The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.56% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.89%.
The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,699 shares rose and 1,315 shares fell. A total of 181 shares were unchanged.
Indian Politics:
Ajit Pawar, NCP chief and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, died in a plane crash near Baramati on Wednesday while travelling from Mumbai. Four others, including the pilots and his security personnel, were also killed. The small aircraft, a Learjet 45 operated by VSR, reportedly crashed during a landing attempt near Baramati airport about 45 minutes after take-off, as Pawar was on his way to attend public meetings ahead of the local body polls.
Television visuals showed fire and wreckage at the site, while media reports said all five people on board died. The 66-year-old leader was the nephew of Sharad Pawar and the cousin of Supriya Sule, both of whom were in Delhi and were expected to travel to Pune.
Derivatives:
The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, declined 5.20% to 13.70. The Nifty 24 February 2026 futures were trading at 25,415, at a premium of 142.8 points as compared with the spot at 25,272.20.
The Nifty option chain for the 24 February 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 30.3 lakh contracts at the 25,500 strike price. Maximum put OI of 41.8 lakh contracts was seen at 25,000 strike price.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Media index added 1.90% to 1,357.40. The index tanked 2.08% in the previous two trading session.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 4.98%), Tips Music (up 3.29%), Saregama India (up 2.99%), Network 18 Media & Investments (up 2.78%) and Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 2.54%) were the top gainers. Among the other gainers were Nazara Technologies (up 1.64%), Sun TV Network (up 1.62%), D B Corp (up 1.23%) added.
On the other hand, PVR Inox (down 1.51%), Prime Focus (down 0.09%), edged lower.
Stocks in Spotlight:
Sunteck Realty rose 1.11% after the company reported a 33.7% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 56.84 crore on a 112.7% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 344.12 crore in Q3 FY26 over Q3 FY25.
Vishal Mega Mart tanked 5.26%. The company reported a 19.10% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 312.92 crore in Q3 FY26, compared with Rs 262.72 crore posted in Q3 FY25. Revenue from operations rose 17.04% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 3,670.41 crore for the quarter ended 31 December 2025.