Benchmarks trade with modest gains; auto shares rally for 2nd day
(14:43, 20 Apr 2026)
The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in mid'afternoon trade even as investors remained cautious over developments in West Asia. Nifty traded near the 24,400 level.

Auto shares surge for second consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 212.99 points or 0.27% to 78,706.53. The Nifty 50 index rose 44.40 points or 0.18% to 24,397.95.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.16% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.01%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,872 shares rose and 2,456 shares fell. A total of 188 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied 5.52% to 18.16.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index jumped 0.49% to 26,564.60. The index rose 0.69% for two consecutive trading sessions.

Tube Investments of India (up 2.71%), Uno Minda (up 2.52%), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.13%), Bosch (up 0.83%) and Ashok Leyland (up 0.76%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.73%), TVS Motor Company (up 0.69%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.63%), Eicher Motors (up 0.6%) and Exide Industries (up 0.2%) surged.

s Numbers to Track:

The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper rose 0.28% to 6.924 compared with previous session close of 6.905.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged lower against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 93.2100 compared with its close of 92.9100 during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 June 2026 settlement shed 0.72% to Rs 153,500.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, was up 0.21% to 98.31.

The United States 10-year bond yield increased 0.49% to 4.264.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for June 2026 settlement jumped $5.48 or 6.06% to $95.86 a barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Trent rallied 3.51% after the company's board will meet on Wednesday, 22 April 2026 to consider a bonus issue of equity shares for shareholders.

Bondada Engineering fell 0.24%. The company has secured multiple orders aggregating to Rs 3.94 crore from domestic entities, including Singareni Collieries Company, Pratap Technocrats, and IIT Hyderabad.

Multi Commodity Exchange of India rose 0.58% after the company has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to invest in a proposed coal exchange company. The exchange plans to incorporate a wholly owned subsidiary, likely to be named MCX Coal Exchange or MCX Coal Exchange of India, following SEBI's approval granted on 17 April 2026.