Market Wrap, Jan 28: NIFTY50 ends at 25,342, SENSEX rises 487 pts, Nifty Smallcap 100 outperforms, BEL rallies 9%

The Indian stock market closed with gains on Wednesday, January 28, following a strong rally in oil & gas and metal stocks. Positive cues from the Asian peers also added to the market optimism. 

Meanwhile, on the broader market, the small-cap stocks outperformed the main equity benchmark indices on Wednesday. The defence stocks also outshone, with the Nifty India Defence closing 6.95% after the India-EU deal.

According to exchange data, on Tuesday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹3,068.49 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹8,999.71 crore on a net basis.

On the global front, the stocks in Asia gained on Wednesday following strong gains in technology and AI-related shares. 

Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.52%, while China's Shanghai Composite edged up by 0.27%, and South Korea's KOSPI was also settled 1.66% higher.

Here are the key developments of Wednesday's session that you need to know

As many as 3,284 stocks traded on the NSE on Wednesday. Out of this, 2,452 advanced and 740 stocks declined, while 92 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of advances.

A total of 69 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 177 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 119 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 50 touched their lower circuit bands on Wednesday.

The market capitalisation of NSE-listed firms stood at ₹457.25 lakh crore at the close of the session.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 13.53 levels, falling 6.41%.

Driven by Oil India (9.87%), Motilal Oswal Financial Services (7.53%) and Bharat Dynamics (7.18%), the Nifty Midcap 100 index gained 1.66% to end at 58,438.60.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index climbed 2.26% to close at 16,790.95, led by strong gains in Tejas Networks (14.22%), Data Patterns (13.52%) and Hindustan Copper (13.48%).

Sector-wise, except for Nifty FMCG (-0.71%) and Nifty Pharma (-0.22%), all the sectors closed with gains. Nifty Oil & Gas took the lead among gainers, rising 3.4%, followed by Nifty Metal (2.34%) and Nifty Media (2.13%).

On the NIFTY50 index, 32 stocks closed higher, while 18 declined by the end of the session.

Bharat Electronics was the most contributing stock, surging 9.21%, while ONGC (8.18%), Coal India (5.27%), Eternal (5.06%) and Hindalco Industries (4.28%) were the other top gainers.

On the contrary, Tata Consumer Products (-4.55%), Asian Paints (-4.22%), Maruti Suzuki (-2.39%), Sun Pharma (-1.89%) and Max Healthcare (-1.89%) were the top laggards on the 50-share index.