SENSEX surges over 600 points, NIFTY50 reclaims 25,350 ahead of Budget session

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Wednesday, January 28, as markets started February futures and option series on a strong note on hopes of sustained economic reforms from the government in the upcoming Budget which will be presented on Sunday, February 1. The SENSEX rose as much as 646 points and NIFTY50 index surpassed its important psychological level of 25,350 and touched an intraday high of 25,372.

The up move in Wednesday's session also got support from positive global cues and buying in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Mahindra & Mahindra.

As of 9:23 am, the SENSEX was up 600 points at 82,458 and NIFTY50 index advanced 180 points to 25,355.

Market participants are now focusing on the upcoming Budget for cues and expect government to push reforms in land, labour, and ease of doing business.

To fire up corporate India, the government should focus on sustaining fiscal prudence while accelerating reforms, Nilesh Shah, MD of Kotak AMC told Upstox in an exclusive interview.

"Stick to the path of declining debt-to-GDP (we’ve already made good progress post-Covid, with households and India Inc. leading the deleveraging). Beyond that, prioritise ease of doing business 2.0 – faster land acquisition, labour flexibility, and out-of-the-box ideas like monetising household gold/silver reserves to fund growth without straining the fiscal," Shah said.

The Budget Session of Parliament will start today with the address of the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, to the joint sitting of both Houses – the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the customary 'halwa' ceremony, representing the final stages for the preparations of the Union Budget 2026-27. The ‘halwa ceremony’ comes before the 'lock-in' of the finance ministry officials involved in the preparation of the Union Budget.

As the budget session starts, here's a look at key events that will be in focus.

Sectoral landscape

Buying was visible across board as 11 of fifteen sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY Oil & Gas index's 2.5% gain. NIFTY Financial Services, Media, Bank, Metal, Private Bank, Realty, Consumer Durables and IT indices also rose between 0.4%-1%.

On the flipside, select auto, FMCG, pharma and state-run lenders were facing a mild selling pressure.

Broader markets were outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.8% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 1%.

Among the individual shares, ABB rose as much as 4% to hit an intraday high of ₹4,893 after the company signed an agreement to develop propulsion systems and enable technology transfer for 25 kV driverless metro projects in the country.

Under the agreement, ABB India will support the design, manufacture, supply, testing, installation supervision and commissioning of propulsion systems, along with the transfer of technology for the train control and monitoring system (TCMS) for 25 kV AC metro applications, Titagarh Rail informed the bourses.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

ONGC was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock surged nearly 6% to ₹262 after the company via its joint venture companies with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Limited (MOL), Japan, has entered Ship Building Contracts (SBCs) with M/s Samsung Heavy Industries, South Korea, for the construction of two state-of-the-art Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs) on 27 January 2026.

Axis Bank, Coal India, Bharat Electronics, NTPC, Reliance Industries, ITC and Hindalco also rose between 1.2%-2.7%.

On the other hand, Asian Paints, Tata Consumer Products, Eicher Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Auto, Max Healthcare and JSW Steel were among the top laggards in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,130 shares were advancing while 654 were declining on the NSE.