Nifty Capital Markets Rallies 2%; Motilal Oswal, Angel One Up 7%

Capital Market Shares Gain as Earnings and Trading Changes Draw Attention

Strong quarterly updates lifted market-linked stocks, while changes to derivatives settlement remain an important part of the outlook.

Capital market shares lead the broader advance

At 10:18 a.m. on Tuesday, the Nifty Capital Markets index was up 2.43%, compared with a 0.83% rise in the Nifty 50. The index gained as much as 3% intraday, reflecting buying across stockbroking, exchange, data platform and asset management counters.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Angel One, 360 ONE WAM and Computer Age Management Services rose between 5% and 7%. CDSL, Nippon Life India Asset Management, KFIN Technologies and Billionbrains Garage Ventures, the parent of Groww, gained 3% to 4%. IEX, HDFC Asset Management Company, MCX and BSE were up around 2% each.

The breadth of the move suggests investors were responding to developments across the capital markets ecosystem, rather than a single company update. The session’s outperformance, however, is not by itself evidence that the sector’s earnings outlook has changed across the board.

Quarterly updates add support to sentiment

Motilal Oswal Financial Services climbed 7% to ₹1,031.75 in intraday trade and had gained 10% over the preceding two sessions. For Q2FY27, it reported 29% year-on-year growth in operating profit after tax, with asset management growing 69%. Management said asset management had become the company’s largest profit pool and that two-thirds of revenue was recurring, a mix it described as supporting greater resilience through market cycles.

Angel One said client engagement recovered steadily after changes to market structure, including the CAS in cash equities. Its average daily orders reached 5.8 million in September 2026, approaching pre-CAS levels. The company also reported a record client funding book of ₹7,450 crore, up 40.5% year on year. These company-specific operating figures help explain investor interest, but they do not establish that all capital market firms are seeing the same recovery.

CAS changes put trading activity under scrutiny

SEBI has revised the Closing Auction Session framework, including trading timings and the way settlement prices for stock and index derivatives are determined. From December 7, 2026, the CAS will run from 3:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m., while derivatives trading will continue until 3:45 p.m. Index and stock derivatives expiry settlement will remain based on the final 30-minute volume-weighted average price of the underlying constituents.

The revised index derivatives settlement methodology, proposed in a September 2026 consultation paper, is intended to reduce reliance on a single auction-discovered closing price. Changes covering the transfer of unexecuted limit and iceberg orders into the CAS take effect from February 8, 2027. The phased changes matter because trading activity and settlement mechanics can affect brokers and exchanges differently.

Jefferies analysts said lower expiry-day volatility could benefit brokers whose orders remain below pre-CAS levels. They also cautioned that premium turnover for exchanges had returned to pre-CAS levels, potentially limiting earnings upside. That contrast makes the regulatory transition relevant to the sector’s outlook, even as the day’s rally was supported by earnings updates.

Key Highlights

• The Nifty Capital Markets index rose 2.43% at 10:18 a.m., ahead of the Nifty 50’s 0.83% gain.
• Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Angel One, 360 ONE WAM and CAMS advanced 5% to 7% intraday.
• Motilal Oswal reported 29% year-on-year growth in Q2FY27 operating profit after tax; its asset management business grew 69%.
• Angel One reported 5.8 million average daily orders in September 2026 and a ₹7,450 crore client funding book.
• Revised CAS timings and index derivatives settlement arrangements take effect from December 7, 2026; order-transfer changes follow on February 8, 2027.

Investor Note: The rally reflects a mix of company earnings and expectations around changing market rules. Investors may want to assess individual firms’ operating updates alongside how CAS-related changes affect activity and revenue; a sector-wide advance alone does not confirm that earnings gains will be uniform.