At 11:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 397.33 points or 0.48% to 82,895.47. The Nifty 50 index rose 134.35 points or 0.53% to 25,589.75.
In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.41% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.07%.
The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,964 shares rose and 1,827 shares fell. A total of 211 shares were unchanged.
Economy:
HSBC India Services PMI eased to 58.4 in February, with exports rising fastest since August 2025, domestic demand easing, modestly faster hiring, and input costs hitting a 2.5-year high. Selling prices and business sentiment rose to a one-year peak.
HSBC India Manufacturing PMI climbed to 57.5, led by strong domestic demand, modest export growth, higher employment, inputs, and inventories. Input and output prices rose, while sentiment remained positive.
HSBC India Composite PMI hit 59.3, the highest since last November, as factory output, new orders, and foreign sales strengthened. Hiring improved, input costs rose to a 15-month high, selling prices to a six-month peak, and sentiment reached a one-year high on investment optimism.
IPO Update:
Gaudium IVF and Women Health received bids for 45,93,456 shares as against 1,46,20,340 shares on offer. The issue was subscribed 0.31 times.
The issue opened for bidding on 20 February 2026 and it closed on 24 February 2026. The price band of the IPO is fixed between Rs 75 and 79 per share.
Buzzing Index:
The Nifty Metal index rose 1.11% to 11,974.30. The index declined 1.20% in the past trading session.
Hindalco Industries (up 2.05%), Steel Authority of India (up 1.42%), Hindustan Copper (up 1.34%), Jindal Steel (up 1.31%), Lloyds Metals & Energy (up 1.3%), Tata Steel (up 1.16%), JSW Steel (up 1.12%), Jindal Stainless (up 1.06%), Hindustan Zinc (up 0.94%) and APL Apollo Tubes (up 0.77%) jumped.
Stocks in Spotlight:
ABB India rallied 7.68% after the company's consolidated net profit jumped 5.82% to Rs 432.85 crore on 7.44% rise in revenue from operations to Rs 3557.01 crore in Q4 CY25 over Q4 CY24.
Zydus Lifesciences shed 0.36%. The company said the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) has completed a pre-approval inspection (PAI) at its Injectable Medical Devices facility in Ahmedabad with nil observations.
Global Markets:
Asian markets traded mixed on Friday, after all three major Wall Street indexes declined overnight, pressured by a drop in private credit stocks and Iran-U.S. tensions.
Prospects of a strike on Iran have risen with U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly saying that he would take a call to decide on military action against Tehran in the next 10 days. This pushed Brent Crude higher, gaining 0.26%, to settle at $71.92.
In Asia, investors assessed Japan's latest inflation data. The island nation's headline inflation rate fell from 2.1% in December to 1.5% in January, its lowest level since March 2022. The reading ended a run of 45 straight months in which inflation had remained above the Bank of Japan's 2% target.
The core inflation rate, which excludes fresh food prices, eased to 2%, the lowest level since January 2024. It was down from 2.4% in December.
As per reports, despite the slowdown in headline inflation, the Bank of Japan is unlikely to delay rate hikes as fresh-food prices remain volatile, while energy costs fell after Japan scrapped its fuel tax in December.
Japan's manufacturing activity improved in February, with the S&P Global Japan Manufacturing PMI rising to 52.8 from 51.5 in January, marking the strongest expansion since May 2022. Growth was supported by firm domestic and overseas demand, with export orders rising at the fastest pace in eight years.
While hiring growth eased from January's peak, it remained solid. Input costs increased at a slightly faster pace. Manufacturers stayed optimistic about the year-ahead outlook, backed by stronger demand, semiconductor and AI-related orders, and ongoing product launches.
Overnight on Wall Street, the US stocks closed lower on Thursday, pulling the S&P 500 close to flat for the year, as investors rotated out of financials and monitored escalating tensions between the US and Iran.
Reflecting a surge in imports and a slump in exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing the U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly widened in the month of December. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit grew to $70.3 billion in December from a revised $53.0 billion in November.
The unexpectedly wider trade deficit partly reflected a continued surge in the value of imports, which shot up by 3.6 percent to $357.6 billion in December after spiking by 4.2 percent to $345.3 billion in November. The report also showed a continued slump in the value of exports, which tumbled by 1.7 percent to $287.3 billion in December after plunging by 3.4 percent to $292.3 billion in November.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 267.50 points, or 0.54%, closing at 49,395.16. The S&P 500 declined 0.28%, ending at 6,861.89, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.31% to 22,682.73.
Financial stocks led the decline after Blue Owl Capital said it would tighten investor liquidity following the sale of $1.4 billion in loan assets, raising concerns about potential losses in the private credit market. Shares of Blue Owl dropped about 6%, while Blackstone and Apollo Global Management each fell more than 5%.
Software stocks also remained under pressure amid persistent worries about artificial intelligence disruption. The sector has struggled in recent weeks as investors assess how AI could reshape enterprise software demand.
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