SENSEX, NIFTY SNAP SEVEN-SESSION RALLY, BROADER MARKETS OUTPERFORM IN MUHURAT TRADE

Indian equity benchmarks gave up their early gains and ended marginally lower during Sunday`s special Muhurat trading session, bringing their seven-session winning streak to an end. The Nifty touched an intraday high of 25,131.85 before slipping below the 25,000 mark as mild profit booking weighed on sentiment.

Pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks witnessed buying interest, while realty and banking shares came under pressure.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined 28.62 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 80,999.40. The Nifty 50 fell 43.95 points, or 0.18%, to close at 24,986.40.

Despite the decline, broader markets remained resilient and outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.35%, while the BSE 250 SmallCap Index advanced 1.33%.

Market breadth remained positive. On the BSE, 3,253 shares advanced, while 947 declined and 265 remained unchanged.

During the seven-session rally through Friday, the Sensex and Nifty had gained 10.62% and 10.27%, respectively.

Global Markets

US equity markets ended mixed on Friday as technology stocks recovered from the previous session`s sharp losses. The S&P 500 advanced 0.31% to 7,376.86, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.09% to 24,579.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, however, declined 0.46% to 51,285.73.

The recovery was led by semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 4.2%, with Nvidia rising 2.8% and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surging 11%. Sandisk also recovered nearly 4%.

Technology shares rebounded as investors reassessed concerns over tighter artificial intelligence (AI) regulations following the US midterm elections. Fears that increased regulatory scrutiny could slow data-centre construction had triggered the previous session`s sell-off. However, concerns over the sustainability of AI-related capital expenditure and elevated technology valuations continued to weigh on the sector outlook.

Among individual stocks, Airbnb surged 12% after raising its full-year 2026 revenue growth forecast, citing stronger third-quarter demand. DraftKings plunged 21% after lowering its outlook to account for higher costs associated with expanding its prediction-markets business.

The US labour market delivered stronger-than-expected growth in October, with non-farm payrolls increasing by 165,000 against market expectations of 65,000. September`s job additions were revised upwards to 60,000 from the earlier reported figure of 29,000. The unemployment rate also eased to 4.1% from 4.2% in September.

Average hourly earnings increased 0.4% month-on-month and 3.1% year-on-year to $38.00. The stronger employment figures highlighted continued resilience in the US labour market and added to expectations that the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates elevated for longer.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Friday after recovering earlier in the week, with Brent crude futures trading around $97.76 per barrel.

Stocks in Spotlight

Divi`s Laboratories surged 7.52% after reporting strong Q2 FY27 results. Consolidated net profit jumped 63.6% year-on-year to Rs 1,127 crore from Rs 689 crore in Q2 FY26. On a sequential basis, net profit increased 24.9% from Rs 902 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue from operations rose 35.4% year-on-year to Rs 3,676 crore from Rs 2,715 crore. Sequentially, revenue increased 19.4% from Rs 3,080 crore.

Finolex Cables surged 20% following a strong Q2 FY27 performance. Consolidated net profit increased 67.8% year-on-year to Rs 272.92 crore from Rs 162.64 crore in Q2 FY26. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit grew 9.6% from Rs 249.04 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue from operations climbed 65.0% year-on-year to Rs 2,269.33 crore from Rs 1,375.79 crore. Sequentially, revenue increased 12.7% from Rs 2,013.15 crore.

Waaree Renewable Technologies gained 2.11% after receiving a work order from a leading independent power producer (IPP) for executing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works for a 285-MWp solar power project. The project is scheduled for completion during FY28.

Bluspring Enterprises advanced 4.66% after reporting strong Q2 FY27 results. Consolidated adjusted net profit surged 166.7% year-on-year to Rs 13.95 crore from Rs 5.23 crore in Q2 FY26. On a sequential basis, adjusted net profit improved from a loss of Rs 0.49 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue from operations increased 48.3% year-on-year to Rs 1,271.72 crore from Rs 857.48 crore. Sequentially, revenue grew 34.0% from Rs 949.29 crore.

Data Patterns (India) declined 1.69% after reporting weaker Q2 FY27 financial performance. Standalone net profit fell 55.3% year-on-year to Rs 22 crore from Rs 49.2 crore in Q2 FY26. On a sequential basis, net profit was marginally lower by 0.4% compared with Rs 22.1 crore in Q1 FY27.

Revenue declined 56.7% year-on-year to Rs 133.2 crore from Rs 307.5 crore. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue improved 14.8% from Rs 116 crore in Q1 FY27.