New Delhi

Indian stock benchmarks inched up on Thursday after three consecutive sessions of losses, with auto, metals, and pharma leading the gains among the sectoral indices.

Sensex closed the day at 84,818.13 points, up 426.86 points or 0.51 per cent, while Nifty closed at 25,898.55 points, up 140.55 points or 0.55 per cent.

Indian stock markets declined for the third consecutive session yesterday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy guidance, with ongoing foreign fund outflows further dampening sentiment.

The US Federal Reserve reduced the federal funds rate by 25 basis points (0.25 percentage point), citing rising downside risks to employment and a moderate pace of economic expansion.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said, "The Fed decision, though favourable from the market perspective, is unlikely to have a significant impact on the Indian market, which is being weighed down by the sustained selling by FIIs, the huge supply of paper from IPOs and the poor earnings growth of the last six quarters. Of these, earnings growth is the most significant, and this is going to change for the better in the coming quarters," he said.

"A slowdown in IPOs is likely in 2026 since the irrationality in IPO pricing is becoming increasingly evident. Along with the likely slowdown in IPOs in 2026, when earnings growth picks up as expected, the market will respond positively. Weakness in the market now present buying opportunities in high quality stocks, particularly in largecaps and selectively in midcaps. The weakness in the broader market is likely to continue," he added.

Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said robust equity inflows reinforced steady domestic sentiment in November. However, continued weakness in the rupee capped the momentum, he noted.

Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, a SEBI-registered online trading and wealth tech firm, said equity markets ended higher on Thursday as the widely expected 25 bps rate cut by the US Federal Reserve lifted investor sentiment.

"However, the gains were partly capped by a sharp fall in the Indian rupee to a fresh record low, which kept currency-related worries elevated. Fresh concerns over delays in achieving meaningful progress in the India-US trade negotiations also weighed on risk appetite, limiting broader upside for domestic equities. Weak cues from Asia and a sharp sell-off in US futures added further pressure, after cloud-computing major Oracle plunged over 12 per cent on issuing a softer-than-expected quarterly revenue forecast. Despite these headwinds, the markets managed to close in the green, though the undertone remained cautious," Ponmudi R added.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said domestic markets rebounded broadly following the Fed's expected 25-bps rate cut amid high US inflation.

Ovas Bakshi, Head-Retail Sales, Kotak Mahindra AMC, said equity Inflows for the month of November 25 are at Rs. 29,911 Cr. vs 24,690 in Oct 25 - a jump of 21%.

"Investors have continued to show faith in Equity despite the volatility in the markets. Flexicap category got the highest flows at Rs 8,135 crore followed by large and midcap category at Rs. 4503 crore, midcap category at Rs 4486 crore and small category at Rs 4406 crore," he said.

"Inflows to sectoral and thematic funds have slowed. The ability of Flexicap funds to invest across market caps and their present large cap bias attracted funds to the category. Hybrid category excluding Arbitrage funds got inflows to the tune of Rs 9,100 crore vs Rs 7,236 crore in October 25. Multi asset allocation funds continue to get large inflows owing to allocation across asset classes like Equity/ Gold / Silver," he added.

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Meanwhile, the Indian Rupee hit another record low of 90.53 against the US Dollar. The Indian Rupee has been depreciating over the past weeks. The Indian rupee breached the 90 mark against the US Dollar last week.