Sensex gains over 850 points, Nifty climbs above 22,300 as bulls fight back

Indian benchmark indices edged higher on Wednesday, mirroring gains in Asian peers, after the Nifty endured its longest losing streak in three decades on Tuesday amid escalating global trade tensions triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff rollout on key trading partners.

The benchmark BSE Sensex surged 852 points, or 1.17%, to hit 73,842, while the broader Nifty 50 was trading at 22,364, up by 282 points, or 1.28%.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid Corporation of India, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, and Adani Enterprises led gains on the Nifty 50 benchmark on Wednesday.


The Nifty IT index climbed 1.6%, while the Nifty Auto index gained 1.1%. The Nifty Bank index advanced 0.3%, supported by a 1.2% rise in index heavyweight ICICI Bank.

On Tuesday, the Nifty 50 logged a historic 10-day losing streak—the longest since its official launch in April 1996. The benchmark index has plunged nearly 16% from its September 2024 peak of 26,277, marking the sixth-largest drawdown since the 2008-09 financial crisis and the second-largest since the COVID-19-driven crash of March 2020.

Relentless foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, which have already surpassed $14 billion in 2025, have driven the selloff, exacerbated by concerns over U.S. President Trump's tariff threats and a weakening rupee. Meanwhile, February marked the fifth straight monthly decline for the Sensex—an unprecedented streak since 1996.

Eleven of the 13 major sectors opened higher, with the IT index advancing the most.

Among individual stocks, Coforge surged 5.7% after securing a 13-year, $1.56 billion deal with Sabre Corp.

Broader markets also advanced, with the Nifty Midcap 100 rising 0.7% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 climbing 0.9%.

Expert View

Uncertainty unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs is reigning supreme, and this is weighing on markets. Consequently, trading volumes have dipped sharply, said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Markets drifting down on low volumes don’t indicate a sustained downtrend from the current levels. In the ongoing chaotic scenario, new news and developments can trigger market moves. It would be difficult for the U.S. to get away unscathed from the retaliatory tariffs imposed by China, Canada, and Mexico. Inflation in the U.S. will rise, and the Fed will sound hawkish. A sharp correction in the U.S. stock market is likely. This will hurt Trump’s popularity, and the negative wealth effect of a sharp market correction can aggravate the growth slowdown in the U.S. Soon, the Trump regime will realize this,” Vijayakumar said.

It is better for investors to wait and watch for the events to unfold, Vijayakumar said, adding that fairly valued growth stocks, particularly those focused on domestic consumption like financials, telecom, etc., and exports to non-U.S. markets like segments of autos, can be slowly accumulated for the long term.

Global Markets

Most Asian markets advanced on Wednesday, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining 1% amid hopes of a partial rollback of U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

Market participants remained focused on U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Congress for potential signals on future tariff actions.

Hong Kong stocks rose, but the yuan pared some of Tuesday’s gains as China’s annual National People's Congress (NPC) began, with Beijing maintaining its 2025 economic growth target at around 5%. The Hang Seng index climbed 1.1%, while mainland Chinese markets were mixed, with a key blue-chip index largely unchanged.

China’s offshore yuan slipped 0.3% to 7.2716 per dollar after strengthening 0.7% in the previous session. Alongside its steady growth target, Beijing pledged more fiscal support than last year to counter the impact of rising U.S. tariffs.

Meanwhile, MSCI’s world equity index was flat, extending its weekly decline to 1.9%.

Crude Impact

Oil declined for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, weighed down by concerns over global growth amid escalating trade tensions and OPEC+ plans to increase output in April.

Brent crude edged down 15 cents to $70.89 a barrel, after touching a low of $69.75 in the previous session—its weakest level since September 11.

FII/DII Tracker

On Tuesday, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,405.82 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased stocks totaling Rs 4,851.43 crore.

Currency Watch

The Indian rupee opened 0.04% higher at 87.23 per US dollar on Wednesday, compared to its previous close of 87.2650.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against the euro, sterling, and four other major currencies, was little changed at 105.60 after a two-day, 1.9% slump that briefly pushed it to 105.49—its lowest level since December 6.

The dollar hovered near a three-month low against major peers as fresh US tariffs and retaliatory measures from Canada and China fueled concerns over an escalating trade war.

Market Cap

The market capitalization of all listed companies on the BSE increased by Rs 4.55 lakh crore to Rs 390.14 lakh crore.