Sensex Jumps 905 Points, Nifty Closes Above 22,900 as Banks, FMCG and Realty Rally After the Fed Holds Rates

Indian equity benchmarks recovered from a weak start to close sharply higher on Thursday, October 29, 2026, as buying spread across banking, consumer goods, information technology and real estate shares after the U.S. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. The BSE Sensex rose 905.01 points, or 1.24%, to 74,151.04, and the NSE Nifty 50 gained 237.90 points, or 1.05%, to 22,936.75, Moneycontrol reported.

The indices opened lower before turning positive during the session, Business Standard reported, and the Sensex snapped a two-day losing streak. CNBC-TV18 said the benchmarks finished at the day's high.

Breadth and broader markets

About 2,502 shares advanced, 1,638 declined and 166 were unchanged, according to Moneycontrol, which said only 12 stocks in the Nifty 50 ended in the red. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.98% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.93%, Business Standard reported. The Nifty Bank index advanced 642 points to 54,910, according to CNBC-TV18.

Sectors: realty and FMCG lead, autos lag

The Nifty Realty index led sectoral gains with a rise of 2.7%, followed by a 2.3% advance in the Nifty FMCG index, according to Business Standard. Consumer goods gains were supported by Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India and ITC, Moneycontrol said. Real estate stocks recovered in the final hour of trade, with DLF rising more than 4%, CNBC-TV18 reported.

The Nifty Auto index was the main decliner, slipping 0.24%, with Bajaj Auto down almost 2% and Maruti Suzuki India down about 1%, according to Moneycontrol, which also listed the cement index among the decliners.

Index heavyweights and top movers

Reliance Industries rose more than 1% and gave the Nifty its biggest support, Moneycontrol reported. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone was the top gainer, rising more than 5%, while Power Grid Corporation of India and Adani Enterprises each rose nearly 4%. Kotak Mahindra Bank gained more than 3%, and HDFC Life Insurance and Bajaj Finance rose about 1% each. Heavyweight HDFC Bank traded slightly lower.

Most technology stocks gained, with Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services each up around 1%. Trent was the worst performer in the Nifty, down more than 2% ahead of its September-quarter results later in the day, Moneycontrol said. Asian Paints, Bajaj Auto and Hindalco Industries were also among the losers in Moneycontrol's intraday tally, though CNBC-TV18 reported that Asian Paints ended nearly 1% higher after its results.

Results and corporate news

Among individual stocks, Birlasoft rose 12% after announcing second-quarter results, its biggest single-day gain in more than five years, and V-Guard jumped nearly 8% on its results, CNBC-TV18 reported. Laurus Labs gained more than 3%. Nilkamal surged 13% after its second-quarter net profit doubled to Rs 68 crore, and Jupiter Wagons rose 5% on an order win worth Rs 1,140 crore, according to Moneycontrol.

Equitas Small Finance Bank fell 12% after managing director and chief executive PN Vasudevan resigned, effective October 29, saying that despite explaining the issue of a perceived conflict of interest to investors, the perception continued to persist, CNBC-TV18 reported. Hero MotoCorp declined more than 4% following commentary on its earnings call, while RR Kabel fell nearly 4% after cutting its volume growth guidance. Hexaware Technologies dropped after narrowing its EBITDA margin guidance; CNBC-TV18 put its decline at 6% and Moneycontrol at 7%.

Jio Platforms, which made its market debut on Wednesday, recovered from intraday levels to end with minor gains after its market capitalisation crossed Rs 13.5 lakh crore during the session, according to CNBC-TV18.

Fed decision, flows and the rupee

Analysts cited the Fed's decision to hold its policy rate in the 3.75% to 4% range as a key support. "The Fed holding rates as expected is mildly positive for equity markets. However, from the Indian perspective, the headwinds continue to be strong," VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, told Moneycontrol, pointing to high U.S. Treasury yields and crude oil prices. Indian benchmarks had fallen in six of the previous seven sessions on concerns over elevated oil prices.

Foreign portfolio investors bought Rs 872 crore of Indian shares on Wednesday, a second consecutive session of buying, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 643 crore, provisional data cited by Moneycontrol showed. Foreign investors have sold $3.74 billion of Indian shares so far in October.

The rupee recovered from an intraday low of 95.37 to end nearly flat at 95.25 per dollar, compared with Wednesday's close of 95.23, Moneycontrol reported. More than 80 stocks touched 52-week highs during the session, while more than 150 hit 52-week lows.