Business: Equity benchmark indices rose sharply in early trade on Tuesday, driven by strong buying by IT and banking stocks along with a sharp decline in Brent crude prices. The BSE Sensex rose 327.39 points to 82,300.44, while the NSE Nifty rose 84.1 points to 25,212.05.

Major gainers and losers

Among the 30 Sensex companies, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies and ICICI Bank were the notable gainers HCL Technologies reported the biggest growth of 10.51% in consolidated profit in the July-September quarter of FY, as 4,235 crore for the July-September quarter of fiscal, prompting the company to raise its growth guidance.

In contrast, Tata Steel, Power Grid, Axis Bank, JSW Steel, Reliance Industries and NTPC declined. Reliance, India's largest company by market capitalisation, posted a 5% decline in net profit in the same quarter due to disappointing performance in its oil refining and petrochemical sectors.

Inflation concerns amid positive macro indicators

VK Vijaykumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the 3% drop in Brent crude prices is a big positive for India, as reported by news agency PTI. But he expressed concern over retail inflation, which rose to a nine-month high of 5.49% in September, mainly due to higher vegetable prices.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 2.98% to US$75.15 a barrel, supporting gains in the domestic market.

Market trends and institutional activity

Asian markets showed mixed growth, with good trading in Seoul and Tokyo and losses in Shanghai and Hong Kong. U.S. markets closed again on Monday.

Data showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,731.59 crore while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,278.09 crore on Monday. Vijayakumar said that although the FII sales have continued, the intensity has decreased, easing the pressure on large-cap funds.

On Monday, the BSE benchmark Sensex closed at 81,973.05, up 591.69 points or 0.73%, while the Nifty rose 163.70 points or 0.66% to end at 25,127.95.

Prashant Tapse, senior VP of research, at Mehta Equities Ltd., highlighted the resilience of the Nifty, driven by upward momentum from positive global market growth and strong earnings in second place from HCL Tech.