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Mumbai: Last week’s euphoria on Dalal Street appears to have cooled, even as global indices outperformed Indian benchmarks. While optimism around US–Iran peace talks lent support, investor activity remained selective, driven more by stock- and sector-specific bets than broad-based momentum.
The Nifty 50 and Sensex rose over 1% this week, extending gains after last week’s near 6% surge—their strongest in over five years—but the pace has now moderated. On Friday, both indices closed about 0.65% higher, with the Nifty at 24,353.55 and the Sensex at 78,493.56.
Globally, the rally has been far stronger. South Korea’s KOSPI jumped around 6%, the Nasdaq gained over 5%, while markets in Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan rose 2-4%.
Karan Aggarwal, co-founder & CIO at Ametra PMS, a quant-based PMS & portfolio manager, said global markets are being lifted by an AI-driven rally led by Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US tech sector— something largely absent in India.
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“India faces twin headwinds of high valuations and EPS re-rating risk, with NSE 500 at 24x P/E and ~10% EPS growth, while muted IT outlook and lower banking treasury income weigh on sentiment,” he said. EPS is short for earnings per share.
The market action during the week reflected a shift towards sector-specific opportunities rather than broad-based participation.
Power stocks led gains, with the BSE Power index rising 6.8%, followed by capital goods (up 5.4%) and metals (over 4%), aided by global cues. Auto stocks, however, remained weak, with BSE Auto index slipping about 0.5% on muted demand expectations.
Aggarwal noted that these moves are largely technical and do not indicate any fundamental shift.
“Capex-heavy sectors such as defence and realty saw sharp corrections in March, with some stocks falling 25-40% due to rising yields,” he said. “As yields cool off globally, investors are using the opportunity to accumulate at lower levels. Metals, meanwhile, are benefiting from the weakness in the US dollar index, which has declined about 2% over the last 10 sessions.”
Attention has now shifted to earnings, which has so far delivered a mixed picture, particularly in the IT sector.
Tata Consultancy Services reported Q4FY26 consolidated revenue of $7.73 billion, rising 3% sequentially, while net profit stood at $1.5 billion, slightly down 1% compared to the previous quarter.
Wipro, however, showed a more muted performance, with revenue at $2.65 billion, growing just 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, and net profit at $382.8 million, up 9%.
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“IT also looks split rather than broken,” said Harshal Dasani, business head at INVasset PMS, adding that while TCS delivered good quarterly results, “Wipro’s soft guidance reminded the Street that demand recovery remains uneven”.
Notably, Wipro said on Thursday that it expects a weak start to FY27, guiding for April-June revenue of $2.6–2.65 billion—a sequential decline of up to 2% or flat growth, due to delays in ramping up a large client and slower growth from an existing banking client.
With earnings still unfolding and macro risks in play, markets are expected to remain range-bound in the near term.
Aggarwal said upcoming results from HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank would be key, especially in assessing treasury performance amid volatile yields, and a strong performance could push the Nifty 50 towards 25,000.
However, he added, “One has to accept the harsh reality that as EPS-re-rating is still a few quarters away, present valuation levels indicate markets are near the upper band of the range, and any disappointment in banking sector results can push markets back below 23,300 levels.”
Mayur Bhalerao is a markets reporter at Mint with around 12 years of experience across finance and media. His coverage focuses on Indian equities, IPOs and broader market trends, tracking developments across large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks as well as shifts in investor behaviour among retail investors, mutual funds and foreign portfolio investors.Mayur’s reporting emphasises data-driven analysis of market movements, valuations and sectoral trends. He uses shareholding disclosures, financial filings and market data to explain developments on Dalal Street and examine how global events and domestic policy changes—including geopolitical tensions, crude oil prices and regulatory decisions—shape Indian equities and investor sentiment.He regularly uses financial databases such as the Bloomberg terminal and Capitaline to produce data-intensive stories, analysing company disclosures, ownership patterns and sectoral trends across both Indian and global markets. He also supports colleagues in the newsroom by providing database-driven insights and market data analysis that help strengthen broader market coverage.Before joining Mint, Mayur worked at Informist Media Pvt Ltd., a leading financial newswire, where he developed his expertise in financial journalism in a specialised markets newsroom.