Nifty Edges Up to 25,299 for a Third Straight Gain as Financials Offset Auto Losses; Sensex Adds 32 Points

India's benchmark indices ended a choppy session nearly unchanged on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, as gains in banks and financial companies offset profit-taking in automobile, consumer goods and technology shares after a strong November rally. The NSE Nifty 50 rose 44.30 points, or 0.18%, to 25,299.35, its third straight gain, while the BSE Sensex added 31.61 points, or 0.04%, to 81,911.01, The Hindu BusinessLine reported.

The market opened with a cautiously positive tone but traded in a narrow band around the flat line in the afternoon, Zee Business reported. Investors were also cautious ahead of India's October consumer inflation data, which was released after the close.

Financials lead, autos snap a winning streak

HDFC Life was the top Nifty gainer, rising 4.23%, followed by Shriram Finance, up 3.58%, and Bajaj Finance, up 3.36%. SBI Life, State Bank of India and Bajaj Finserv each gained more than 2%, and Max Healthcare and Bharat Electronics also closed higher, according to Zee Business. All 14 stocks in the Nifty Bank index advanced, lifting it 1.2% and extending its gain over three sessions to 4.3%. The Nifty Financial Services index rose 1.4%.

Bajaj Finance rose after launching a qualified institutional placement on Wednesday to raise up to ₹11,700 crore, about $1.25 billion, from institutional investors at a floor price of ₹992.25 a share, Reuters reported via BusinessLine. The lender's assets under management grew 26% year on year in the September quarter.

On the losing side, Nestle India fell 2.1%, Mahindra & Mahindra 1.9%, Power Grid 1.6% and Hindustan Unilever 1.5%, while Trent, Grasim and Larsen & Toubro each lost 1.3%. Maruti Suzuki, NTPC and Tata Consultancy Services fell 1.2% apiece. The Nifty Auto index dropped about 1%, ending an eight-session winning streak in which auto stocks gained more than 12% on festival-season sales optimism, Reuters reported via Business Recorder.

Sector and broader market moves

The Nifty Realty index was the strongest sector, rising about 4% to 4.5% depending on the data provider, and the Nifty Media index gained about 2.5%. The PSU Bank index rose roughly 1.4% to 1.5%, and the private bank index added between 0.7% and 0.9%. The FMCG, IT and pharma indices each declined, ANI reported via Devdiscourse. Eleven of 16 major sectors ended lower, Reuters said.

Smaller companies outperformed. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.9% and the Smallcap 100 climbed 1.1%, according to Zee Business, and advancing stocks outnumbered decliners 2,540 to 1,910 on the BSE. Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said strong foreign inflows remained the key support and described the session as "a large-cap financial rotation rather than broad index chasing."

Foreign flows and the November rally

Overseas investors have bought $6.43 billion of Indian shares so far in November, their largest monthly purchase in more than two years, Reuters reported. The buying has helped restore India as the world's fifth-largest equity market by capitalization, ahead of Taiwan; NSE-listed stocks were worth about $5.42 trillion compared with Taiwan's $4.4 trillion, according to LSEG data. The Nifty and Sensex have risen about 10% this month, outperforming emerging-market peers. HSBC upgraded India to overweight, and Citi and Bernstein raised their Nifty targets, Reuters said.

Brent crude was trading about 1% lower near $92 a barrel, and is down almost 14% over the past month, Zee Business reported. India imports more than 85% of its oil. The rupee weakened 35 paise to about 94.04 per U.S. dollar.

Inflation breaches RBI's upper limit

After the market closed, government data showed India's retail inflation rose to 6.09% in October from 5.54% in September, crossing the upper end of the Reserve Bank of India's 2% to 6% tolerance band, Moneycontrol reported. Food inflation accelerated to 8.94% from 7.74%, with onion prices up more than 116% from a year earlier. Rural inflation rose to 6.63% and urban inflation to 5.41%. ICRA chief economist Aditi Nayar said a further 25-basis-point RBI rate increase in December appears "almost certain," and Kotak Mahindra Bank said it expects an additional 50 basis points of hikes in the fiscal year ending March 2027.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan's main index fell about 2.7%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.46% and Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.99%, ANI reported.