India’s BSE Sensex rose about 0.3% to close at 76,741.8 on Thursday, bouncing back after suffering a sharp decline the prior session. Investors braced for quarterly earnings from IT major TCS and monitored developments in the Middle East. Pre-earnings updates indicated strong growth for banks and FMCG stocks. On the geopolitical front, the US military said on Wednesday it carried out fresh strikes on Iran aimed at keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping, prompting retaliatory Iranian attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain. Meanwhile, sustained foreign inflows helped offset geopolitical concerns, with overseas investors buying Indian equities for a sixth straight session. Among key movers, Sun Pharma (+2.7%) and Bharti Airtel (+2.2%) led gains amid rotation into defensive plays, including pharma, healthcare and telecom stocks. Techs saw some pressure, with Infosys down 1.8%. TCS fell 0.5% ahead of its earnings report, with analysts expecting a muted performance amid macro uncertainty.