Ahead of Market: 10 things that will decide stock market action on Friday

The Indian market ended higher on Thursday, in a session where the Sensex and Nifty recorded 52-week highs, edging closer to their all-time highs, buoyed by optimism around an earnings revival and renewed foreign inflows. Investor sentiment was further lifted by expectations that strong festive-season demand, recent tax cuts, and policy support will drive corporate profits higher in the second half of FY26.

At the end of the session, the S&P BSE Sensex surged 130.06 points, or 0.15%, to close at 84,556.40, while the NSE Nifty 50 rose 22.80 points, or 0.09%, to end the day at 25,891.40.

Here’s how analysts read the market pulse:

Domestic equities started on a positive note, however, they pared early gains as investors booked profits following sanctions on Russian oil and the possible postponement of India–U.S. trade negotiations, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, adding that the IT stocks, meanwhile, advanced as sentiment improved after Trump’s softer tone on H1B visas.

“FIIs are gradually returning to Indian markets, encouraged by expectations of earnings rebound in H2FY26 supported by festive demand, tax benefits and GST reductions. As the undercurrent vibes of the domestic market have improved due to a possible India-US deal and a rise in consumer demand, the broad market is expected to do much better henceforth,” said Nair.

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US markets

Wall Street was largely muted on Thursday, as lackluster earnings from Tesla and IBM cast a shadow over risk appetite, while investors kept a close eye on simmering U.S.-China trade tensions.
Tesla’s third-quarter profit missed expectations, dragging its shares down 5.3%. A revenue beat offered little relief, as Wall Street grappled with tempered optimism through the week.
The electric-vehicle maker kicked off earnings for the “Magnificent Seven” — a cohort that forms nearly 35% of S&P 500’s weight, and could dictate the market’s next move.

IBM dropped 5.4% after the company recorded a slowdown in growth in its key cloud software segment, eclipsing a third-quarter beat.

European Markets

The STOXX 600 index closed at a record high on Thursday, led by gains in energy stocks after the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Russia, while investors also gauged the health of corporate Europe from a batch of earnings reports.

The continent-wide benchmark index ended 0.37% higher at 574.43 points.

Energy stocks gained 2.7% and marked their strongest session since mid-April as crude prices soared 5% after the U.S. slapped sanctions on major Russian suppliers over Moscow’s intensifying war with Ukraine.

Tech View

The Nifty completely erased its morning gains during the day; nevertheless, the short-term trend remains strong, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, adding that on the daily chart, a large red candle has formed, indicating the possibility of a pullback towards the 25,700 level in the next few days.

“However, the short-term trend remains intact, with the potential to revisit higher levels around 26,200 in the next 10–15 days. On the higher side, immediate resistance is placed at 26,000, above which the index may move towards 26,200,” said De.

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Most active stocks in terms of turnover

HDFC Bank (Rs 4,410 crore), Infosys (Rs 3,116 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 2,906 crore), RIL (Rs 2,740 crore), Axis Bank (Rs 1,847 crore), Eternal (Rs 1,799 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 1,779 crore) were among the most active stocks on BSE in value terms. Higher activity in a counter in value terms can help identify the counters with highest trading turnovers in the day.

Most active stocks in volume terms

Vodafone Idea (Traded shares: 129.62 crore), YES Bank (Traded shares: 13.06 crore), IDFC First Bank (Traded shares: 9.41 crore), Sagility India (Traded shares: 8.74 crore), Suzlon Energy (Traded shares: 7.64 crore), Adani Power (Traded shares: 5.53 crore) and Eternal (Traded shares: 5.42 crore) were among the most actively traded stocks in volume terms on NSE.

Stocks showing buying interest

Shares of SCI, Birlasoft, Vardhman Textiles, KPR Mill, Vodafone Idea, Mastek Ltd and Info Edge were among the stocks that witnessed strong buying interest from market participants.

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52 Week high

Over 221 stocks hit their 52 week highs today while 60 stocks slipped to their 52-week lows. Among the ones which hit their 52 week highs included Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI.

Stocks seeing selling pressure

Stocks which witnessed significant selling pressure were Eternal, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech Cement, Adani Ports SEZ, ICICI Bank, RIL and Nestle India.

Sentiment meter bearish

The market sentiments were bearish. Out of the 4,389 stocks that traded on the BSE on Thursday, 2,464 stocks witnessed declines, 1,809 saw advances, while 116 stocks remained unchanged.

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(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)