Record Highs, Rapid Reversal: Dalal Street’s Turbo Rally Cools as Markets Catch Their Breath

The Indian stock market saw a dramatic swing after hitting fresh all-time highs, with profit-taking at elevated levels wiping out most of the early morning optimism. Tracking a strong Wall Street handover, both benchmark indices opened sharply higher and broke into new territory for the first time in over 14 months before fading toward the close.

The Nifty 50 surged to an intraday high of 26,310 but eventually slipped back to finish almost flat at 26,233, up just 0.03%. The S&P BSE Sensex followed a similar script, climbing to a record 86,055 before mild profit booking — particularly in banking majors — cut into gains, leaving the index barely higher by 0.02% at 85,704.

Despite the late-session cool-off, overall sentiment stayed firmly tilted toward the bulls. Optimism around a potential US Federal Reserve rate cut in December, renewed inflows from foreign investors, resilient domestic macro indicators, and hopes of an earnings rebound have collectively fueled India’s market momentum, allowing it to narrow the gap with other Asian indices.

Even concerns over recently announced US tariffs on Indian goods failed to dent investor confidence. Market participants remained focused on India’s strong economic trajectory. Early estimates suggest that GDP likely grew close to 7% in the July–September quarter and is poised to expand around 6.8% in FY26.

Among sectors, Nifty Media emerged as the session’s standout performer with a 0.6% jump. Nifty Private Bank, Nifty IT, and Nifty FMCG also posted healthy advances between 0.17% and 0.40%. However, the rally was not broad-based. Nifty Realty took a hit with a 0.78% decline, while Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Oil & Gas slipped more than 0.60% each as profit-taking and valuation concerns weighed on sentiment.