Pulse of the Street: Indian stocks cool after surge as global markets race ahead

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: Last week’s euphoria on Dalal Street appears to have cooled, even as global indices outperformed Indian benchmarks. While optimism around US–Iran peace talks lent support, investor activity remained selective, driven more by stock- and sector-specific bets than broad-based momentum.The Nifty 50 and Sensex rose over 1% this week, extending gains after last week’s near 6% surge—their strongest in over five years—but the pace has now moderated.

On Friday, both indices closed about 0.65% higher, with the Nifty at 24,353.55 and the Sensex at 78,493.56.Globally, the rally has been far stronger. South Korea’s KOSPI jumped around 6%, the Nasdaq gained over 5%, while markets in Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan rose 2-4%.Karan Aggarwal, co-founder & CIO at Ametra PMS, a quant-based PMS & portfolio manager, said global markets are being lifted by an AI-driven rally led by Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the US tech sector— something largely absent in India.Also read FPI shift: Out of IT, into infra in FY26—what’s in store for FY27?“India faces twin headwinds of high valuations and EPS re-rating risk, with NSE 500 at 24x P/E and ~10% EPS growth, while muted IT outlook and lower banking treasury income weigh on sentiment,” he said.

EPS is short for earnings per share.The market action during the week reflected a shift towards sector-specific opportunities rather than broad-based participation.Power stocks led gains, with the BSE Power index rising 6.8%, followed by capital goods (up 5.4%) and metals (over 4%), aided by global cues. Auto stocks, however, remained weak, with BSE Auto index slipping about 0.5% on muted demand expectations.Aggarwal noted that these moves are largely technical and do not