Equity

The Nifty traded above the 24,550 mark. All the sectoral indices on the NSE were traded in the green, with realty, private bank and PSU Bank advancing the most.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 728.99 points or 0.93% to 79,249.29. The Nifty 50 index advanced 196.15 points or 0.82% to 24,561.70.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.77% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index surged 0.98%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,622 shares rose and 1,539 shares fell. A total of 200 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, dropped 6.20% to 17.63.

Gainers & Losers:

Trent (up 3.85%), Bajaj Finance (up 2.70%), ICICI Bank (up 2.20%), HDFC Bank (up 1.68%) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 1.40%) were the major Nifty50 gainers.

SBI Life Insurance Company (down 3.87%), Bharat Electronics (down 1.27%), Dr Reddy's Laboratories (down 0.95%), Jio Financial Services (down 0.84%) and Titan Company (down 0.68%) were the major Nifty50 losers.

Economy:

India's Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI) fell by 0.4% in March 2026 compared to the same month last year, according to provisional data. Output declined in sectors such as fertilizers, crude oil, coal and electricity, pulling down overall performance. The overall growth of these core industries for the full financial year 2025'26 stood at 2.6% compared to the previous year.

Stocks in Spotlight:

E2E Networks hit an upper circuit of 5% after the company reported standalone net profit of Rs 6.43 crore in Q4 FY26 compared with net loss of Rs 5.69 crore in Q3 FY26. Revenue from operations jumped 36.59% QoQ to Rs 95.64 crore in Q4 FY26. On year on year (YoY) basis, the company's consolidated net profit declined 51.37% while revenue from operations surge 185.75% in Q4 FY26.

RateGain Travel Technologies added 0.71%. The company announced a strategic partnership with Easebuzz, a leading digital payments platform in India, as a Gold Partner for RG Pay.

PNB Housing Finance surged 9.07% after the company reported 19.2% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 656 crore on a 10.8% increase in net interest income to Rs 813 crore in Q4 FY26 as compared with Q4 FY25.

Rolex Rings surged 15.78% after the company said its board will consider a share buyback proposal. The company informed exchanges that its board will meet on 23 April 2026 to evaluate a buyback of fully paid-up equity shares. As of March 2026, promoters held a 52.24% stake in the company.

Biocon added 1% after the company said that Health Canada has granted a notice of compliance (NOC) for Bosaya (denosumab), a biosimilar to Prolia, and Vezuo (denosumab), a biosimilar to Xgeva.

UGRO Capital advanced 2.06% after the company reported 27.10% decline in standalone net profit to Rs 29.55 crore in Q4 FY26 as against Rs 40.54 crore posted in Q4 FY25. However, total income increased 23.42% YoY to Rs 509.04 crore in the quarter ended 31 March 2026.

Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels (ASPHL) rallied 4.32% after the company signed two hotel management agreements for Zone Connect by The Park properties in Ayodhya and Ujjain.

Oberoi Realty added 1.94% after the company reported a gross booking value of Rs 1,673 crore for Q4 FY26, registering a 100.1% rise quarter-on-quarter from Rs 836 crore and a 96.1% increase year-on-year from Rs 853 crore in Q4 FY25.

Nelco jumped 7.53% after reporting a consolidated net profit of Rs 1.09 crore for Q4 FY26, compared with a net loss of Rs 4.08 crore in the year-ago period. Total income jumped 15.60% YoY to Rs 81.11 crore in Q4 FY26, from Rs 70.16 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Global Markets:

European markets edged higher into positive territory on Tuesday as investors gauge developments ahead of the expiry deadline for the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.

Asian market traded mixed on Tuesday amid hopes for a resolution to the Middle East conflict, even as tensions between Iran and the U.S. continue to simmer.

'Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table' in his own imagination' into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,' Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf reportedly said in a social media post.

'We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,' Ghalibaf, who is also Iran's top negotiator, added.

This comes after President Donald Trump on Monday said 'lots of bombs [will] start going off' if no deal is reached before a shaky ceasefire with Tehran expires Tuesday evening, threatening Iran with overwhelming military force.

The threats come even as a U.S. delegation prepared to return to Pakistan for a potential second round of peace talks.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks slipped on Monday after tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated over the weekend.

The S&P 500 shed 0.24% to close at 7,109.14, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.26% to finish at 24,404.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 4.87 points, or 0.01%, settling at 49,442.56. On the flip side, the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.58% to 2,792.96, scoring a new closing record.

Traders remain hard-pressed to fully price in a worst-case scenario on the war given stocks' recovery from near correction territory to all-time highs.