Markets: Hope for Mideast ceasefire lifts Sensex, Nifty 1.8% up
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After a sharp broader sell-off on Monday, bulls returned to bourses on Tuesday as benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty50 rebounded in the hope that the raging war in West Asia may soon see a ceasefire and cool off crude oil and gas prices.
The Indian rupee opened 34 paise higher at 93.63, up from its previous close of 93.97 against the US dollar.
Intraday, Sensex rose over 1750 points to hit the high of 74,489.39 levels, while the NSE Nifty50 jumped over 500 points to go past 23,000 briefly, hitting a high of 23,057.30.
At the close, Sensex jumped 1,372.06 points or 1.89 percent to settle at 74,068.45. Similarly, the Nifty50 ended 399.75 points higher or 1.78 percent, at 22,912.40.
Sector-wise, all the indices closed in the green, with the Nifty Media gaining nearly 3.5 percent, followed by Nifty Auto, Nifty Bank and Nifty Chemicals, up more than 2 percent each, the media reported.
The broader markets also remained buoyant, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 surging over 2.5 percent each.
India VIX slipped more than 5 percent, but remained elevated around 25, indicating heightened expectations of near-term volatility
The bulls returned after US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had paused planned strikes on Iranian power plants for five days following “productive conversations” with Tehran. However, Iran said that there had been no direct talks.
Trump’s remarks about a likely temporary de-escalation in geopolitical tensions led to a pullback in global oil prices, providing relief to both global and local macroeconomic conditions. Global oil benchmark Brent crude traded at USD 103.05 per barrel, easing from the USD 110 level seen earlier.
Overall, Indian shares joined a global rally on Tuesday amid conflicting signals about talks between the two sides, with a rebound in heavyweight HDFC Bank lifting the benchmarks.
Other Asian markets gained 1.9%, while Brent crude traded near USD 102 per barrel.
All 16 major sectors logged gains. The broader small-caps and mid-caps added 2.6% each.
India’s largest private lender, HDFC Bank, rose 2.8 percent after it appointed external law firms to review the resignation letter of former part-time chairman Atanu Chakraborty.
The shares had fallen 11.7 percent over the last three sessions, wiping off USD 16.3 billion in market value, after Chakraborty’s abrupt exit.
Financials and banks rose about 2.2% percent each. Auto stocks gained 2.4 percent, while tourism-linked shares jumped 3.9 percent.
Asian Paints advanced 4.7 percent after the company hiked prices across its decorative portfolio to offset higher crude oil costs.
Goldman Sachs lowered its growth estimates for India for 2026 and warned of a potential 50-basis-point rate hike to counter pressure on the rupee, while a survey showed the country’s private sector expanded at its slowest pace in over three years in March.
