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Informist, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – The Nifty 50 index closed higher Thursday, taking a step closer to regaining its record high. The 50-stock index climbed as high as 26246.65 points during the day's trade but came off the high to close 0.5% up at 26192.15 points. Towards the end of October, the index had climbed to 26104.20 points but could not sustain itself at that level. This time, the 50-stock index closed above 26000 points for the second straight session.

In April, the index had slipped to its lowest level in 2025 at 21743.65 points. This was mainly due to uncertainty on how US President Donald Trump's tariffs would affect the world economic order, fears of a recession in the US, high crude oil prices, concern on earnings growth, and a sell-off by foreign investors. Currently, the Nifty 50 is 20% higher from the year's low. The BSE Sensex closed at 85632.68 points, up 446.21 points or 0.5%.    

Index heavyweights Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank, which together have nearly 21% weightage in the benchmark index, ended the session 1.5-2.0% higher. The third major heavyweight, ICICI Bank, with a weightage of 8%, closed marginally lower. Five Nifty 50 constituents--SBI Life Insurance Co., Eicher Motors, Titan Co., State Bank of India, and Bharti Airtel--hit record highs during the session. Among sectoral indices, the Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Infrastructure, and Nifty Bank hit record highs.

Sentiment in the market has been positive, especially with the consensus veering to expectation of a recovery in earnings growth of Indian companies in the second half of the current financial year. That said, in the September quarter, the cumulative net profit of Nifty 50 companies declined marginally, mainly because of the disappointing performance of banks and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles. Excluding these, the cumulative net profit of the Nifty 50 universe rose over 7% on year. The growth would have been a touch more if not for customers delaying purchases in anticipation of lower goods and services tax. While some analysts flagged concern on whether the current trajectory of earnings would be sustainable, others expect earnings growth for the financial year to be in double digits.

Some analysts said the indices would consolidate in the near term because of the lack of fresh triggers but acknowledged that there could be an upside once the India-US trade deal is closed. Analysts said the market has taken Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal's comment earlier this week on progress on the first phase of the agreement as a positive. They also expect the indices to end the calendar year at a record high.

While there was aggressive buying of large-cap stocks, mid- and small-cap companies were under consistent selling pressure throughout the day. The mid-cap indices fared better than the small-cap ones for the better part of the session. However, the broader market indices eventually ended with marginal losses.

Investors primarily bought shares of financial services companies alongside infrastructure and oil and gas companies. Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv both closed over 2% higher. Others such as Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co., Jio Financial Services, and SBI Cards and Payment Services gained more than 1% each. Meanwhile, investors sold shares of media companies such as Nazara Technologies, Sun TV Network, and PVR INOX, all of which closed 1-4% lower.    

Among stocks, Adani Enterprises came off its intraday high and closed 0.5% higher after the committee of creditor of Jaipraka1sh Associates approved the resolution plan presented by the company. Jaiprakash Power, an associate company of Jaiprakash Associates, closed nearly 7% higher. Jaiprakash Associates holds 24% stake in Jaiprakash Power.

Sammaan Capital closed 2% lower after a volatile session following the Supreme Court's order asking senior officers of the country's top investigative agencies and the markets regulator to convene a joint meeting within two weeks to examine the issues of "irregularities" raised by a petitioner against the company. The petition was filed by Citizens' Whistleblowers' Forum for alleged irregularities and siphoning of funds. The stock had opened higher but fell during the afternoon's trade. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 32 rose and 18 fell
* Of the Sensex stocks, 15 rose and 15 fell

* On the NSE, 1,383 stocks rose, 1,716 fell, and 103 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,805 stocks rose, 2,391 fell, and 166 were unchanged

* Nifty Financial Services: up 0.8%; Nifty Infrastructure: up 0.6%; Nifty Media: down 1.5%

BSE                                              NSE

Sensex: 85632.68, up 446.21 points or 0.5%       Nifty 50: 26192.15, up 139.50 points or 0.5%

End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

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