Newspaper Summary 061126

 

Nifty soars to three-month high, logs biggest single-day gain since April

Global Tailwinds: US election outcome and foreign inflows lift equities; consolidation remains possible

By Anupama Ghosh, Mumbai

• The markets closed sharply higher on Thursday, logging their sixth consecutive session of gains, as a nearly 9 per cent crash in Brent crude prices and the Democratic sweep in the US mid-term elections shifted global sentiment in India's favour. The sudden aggressive buying by foreign portfolio investors also lifted market sentiment.

• The Nifty 50 closed at 24,536.60, up 576 points or 2.4 per cent, its sharpest single-day percentage gain since April 8, 2026, and its highest close in nearly three months. The Sensex settled at 79,310.01, up 2,008.61 points or 2.5 per cent.

• Bank Nifty outperformed both, surging 1,860.05 points or 3.33 per cent to close at 57,773.65. The Nifty has now gained over 8 per cent across the six-session streak, its strongest such run since February 2021. "This was the first clean break above the 24,000 level on the Nifty," said Hemant Sood, Founder and MD of Findoc Group, adding that investors added roughly ₹1.7 lakh crore in market value in a single session.

• Record FPI Buying: FIIs bought shares worth ₹14,974.68 crore, the most in the last six years. On May 6, 2020, FPIs bought shares worth ₹17,122.74 crore.

• The rally was broad-based. Of 38 BSE sectoral indices, 36 advanced. Auto led with gains of over 4 per cent, followed by financial services, realty and private banks. The IT index, which lagged for two sessions, rebounded over 2 per cent. Media and Defence were the only notable laggards. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 1.9 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 0.56 per cent, with the BSE advance-decline ratio at 2.06. Bajaj Finance and Shriram Finance led the Nifty 50 gainers, while Apollo Hospitals, ONGC and NTPC were the key laggards, a pattern Sood described as an "oil-and-rates rally," where energy and public sector utilities lagged in line with falling oil.

• The NSE cash-market turnover jumped 30 per cent from the previous session.

• Ajit Mishra, SVP-Research, Religare Broking, said the Nifty is "on course to retest its August high of around 24,800, with banking and financial stocks providing additional support. The key variables remain whether a formal US-Iran agreement materialises, whether Brent holds below $95 and the RBI's December policy stance."

• Sood cautioned that "India VIX rose nearly 3 per cent even as the market climbed, which suggests participants are hedging rather than chasing," a signal that some consolidation cannot be ruled out.

Indian Equities Are No Longer as Expensive as They Were a Year Ago: Uday Kotak

Our Bureau

Mumbai

Indian equities are no longer as expensive as they were a year ago relative to other markets, making them more appealing as concerns over excessive AI-related spending weigh on global investors, veteran banker Uday Kotak said.

"India is not looking as expensive as it did six months to a year ago on a relative basis compared to other markets. And, of course, India offers higher growth," he said.

In his Deepavali message to stakeholders, the veteran banker noted that foreign investors had reduced exposure to Indian equities over the past year as valuations appeared richer than those in several other markets, while the AI-driven rally in the US attracted a significant share of global capital.

"The markets have been rocky as global institutions withdrew significant amounts of money due to the relatively higher valuations of Indian markets compared to other countries, where equities were trading at lower multiples," he added.

AI Spending Concerns

While artificial intelligence is reshaping the global economy, Kotak cautioned that the leverage some companies are taking on to fund AI ambitions has, in many cases, resulted in "significant overvaluation". As concerns around excessive AI spending begin to subside, India could benefit from a reversal in capital flows.

• "As the overhang of excessive investment in AI capex eases, we hope foreign portfolio investment flows will stabilise," Kotak said.

• Foreign portfolio investors continue to hold around $700 billion in Indian assets, making domestic markets sensitive to shifts in global risk appetite and capital flows.

Retail Resilience

Kotak also highlighted the strong resilience demonstrated by domestic investors despite heightened market volatility.

• "We have seen phenomenal resilience from Indian retail investors. They have maintained their faith in the equity markets," Kotak stated.

Key Risks

On the macroeconomic front, Kotak warned of the following risk factors:

• Energy Imports: Higher oil prices resulting from tensions in the Middle East remain a key risk for India, given its dependence on energy imports.

• Monetary Policy: He expects monetary tightening to continue, projecting another 50–75 basis points of increases in the RBI's repo rate, which could put further pressure on bond yields.

Focus Area

Advising investors to remain disciplined, Kotak concluded:

"Think medium term, think strategically and focus on the quality of the companies you invest in."

He also cautioned derivative traders to maintain adequate liquidity to navigate ongoing market volatility.

Following a correction in gold prices from their historic peaks, jewellers and industry stakeholders anticipate a strong revival in customer footfalls and buying momentum for the Dhanteras and Deepavali season.

Key highlights regarding the market trends and expectations include:

• Price Correction: After surging to record highs of over ₹1.75 lakh to ₹1.8 lakh per 10 grams in January, gold prices have corrected by roughly 20% to 25% in line with global movements.

• Renewed Buyer Interest: The recent price correction has broken a prolonged market lull, with jewellers reporting a 40% to 50% increase in customer inquiries and footfalls.

• Sales Volumes and Preferences: Industry expectations point toward sales of approximately 75 tonnes during Dhanteras. Coins, bars, advance bookings, and lightweight hallmarked jewellery are expected to drive the highest demand.

• Shift Toward Accessible Formats: High absolute price levels are encouraging buyers to opt for smaller-denomination bars, digital gold, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) alongside traditional jewellery.

$2 b order book backs EKA's ₹2,000 cr capex fuel push into trucks, six-seaters

bl.interview

Amit Vijay Mohile

Mumbai

Backed by an order book for 11,000 buses valued at nearly $2 billion, including servicing, EKA Mobility plans ₹2,000 crore in capital expenditure over three years to expand electric bus, heavy truck, and six-seater manufacturing, said Chairman Sudhir Mehta. The company is targeting ₹2,800 crore in combined FY27 revenue across EKA and Pinnacle Industries and also betting on electric freight and affordable rural transport to drive the next phase of growth.

Edited excerpts:

Pinnacle recorded ₹200 crore in revenue a decade ago. You now target ₹2,800 crore across Pinnacle and EKA. How have the businesses evolved?

Pinnacle is a separate company manufacturing automotive seating systems, bus interiors and specialty vehicles, including ambulances. We supply components to other vehicle manufacturers and expect around ₹800 crore in revenue this year.

At EKA, we are targeting ₹2,000 crore, against approximately ₹1,600 crore last year. Buses gave us manufacturing scale and service infrastructure. Small commercial vehicles helped establish our dealer network. The third phase, which I believe will be even bigger, is heavy electric trucks.

EKA's vehicle volumes rose 13.4 times to 1,786 in April-September from 133 a year earlier. How will the $2-billion bus order book translate into revenue?

We have orders for 11,000 buses. Including vehicles and long-term servicing, the value is almost $2 billion. We are matching production with depot readiness. Revenue could shift by two or three months depending on infrastructure availability.

We are targeting $1 billion in annual revenue by 2030.

What infrastructure are you building to deliver these buses and support them over their operating lives?

We have 20 operational depots and another 80 expected over 18 months. We expect to be present in 45 cities.

We have 20 operational depots and another 80 expected over 18 months.

SUDHIR MEHTA

Chairman, EKA Mobility

Our service contracts run for 12 years. We maintain buses, supply parts and support uptime. Charging infrastructure is provided by the concessionaires operating the buses.

We are achieving over 99 per cent uptime.

Why do you believe six-seater electric vehicles can transform rural transport?

Our ambition is to provide safe, affordable mobility in every village. Around 2,000 six-seaters are already on the road.

They cost approximately 50 paise per km to operate, travel around 18 km on one unit of electricity and charge through a normal 16-ampere socket.

We have 75 operational dealer points and are adding six to 10 monthly. We want to extend this network through smaller towns into rural markets, improving connections to schools, markets and public transport.

Heavy electric trucks cost substantially more than diesel vehicles. How will you convince fleet operators to switch?

The EMI is higher, but operating costs can be considerably lower. A fully loaded diesel truck may cost around ₹50 per km in fuel. At ₹2 per unit of electricity, an electric truck could cost around ₹30 per km, falling further with cheaper electricity.

The opportunity is particularly strong in fixed-load, point-to-point operations where charging can be planned.

We conduct customer trials and demonstrate actual operating data before selling. We sell only where the business case works.

Will battery swapping be necessary for heavy electric trucks?

Not for most applications, in our view. Swapping is an option, but financing and charging availability are more important.

We are concentrating on applications where customers can plan charging around their operating schedules.

What technology are you developing to support expansion across vehicle categories?

We build vehicles around common elements such as motors, batteries, power electronics and software.

Software is central to our strategy. We have more than 100 people in our software team and recruit around 150 young engineers annually.

We are also working with IIT Chennai on pantograph-based fast charging. Developing these capabilities internally helps us apply technology across different vehicles.