Markets: Sensex, Nifty zoom over 3% in their best performance in 4 years
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With a thaw in the ongoing US-China trade talks and the ‘ceasefire’ between India and Pakistan, the benchmark Indian equity indices, BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50, logged their biggest intraday gains in the last four years on Monday.
The Dalal Street investors celebrated the suspension of hostilities between India and Pakistan, which helped ease fears of war. This led to a surge in investor confidence and fuelled the rally in the markets.
On Monday, market sentiment was also bolstered by the trade agreement between the US and China, who jointly announced a 90-day pause on certain tariffs, sparking optimism in global markets and contributing to the widespread rally. Under the deal, the US will reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China will lower tariffs on American imports from 125 percent to 10 percent.
This news’s positive sentiment spread across broader markets, with mid- and small-cap stocks leading the charge. Among the sectoral front, IT stocks outperformed others, followed closely by substantial gains in financial services, metals, automobiles, and real estate stocks.
At the close, the BSE Sensex stood at 82,429.90, up by 2,975.43 points or 3.74 percent from its previous close. With the rebound, the market capitalisation (market-cap) of BSE-listed companies went up by Rs. 16.15 trillion to Rs. 432.56 trillion, according to the media reports.
Except IndusInd Bank and Sun Pharma, all the other 28 Sensex constituent stocks ended higher, with Infosys and HCL Technologies leading the gains. Other notable performers included Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Eternity, and Tech Mahindra, which saw gains in the range of 5.54 percent–5.36 percent.
Among Sensex constituents, 28 of 30 stocks ended higher.
Mirroring the BSE Sensex, the NSE Nifty50 also ended higher, up by 916.70 points or 3.82 percent, closing at 24,924.70.
The Nifty Midcap100, and Smallcap100 indices settled higher by 4.12 percent, and 4.24 percent, respectively. Rail Vikas Nigam (up 11.71 percent), Reliance Power (11.25 percent), HFCL (10.74 percent), JBM Auto (10.35 percent), IFCI (10.32 percent), Escorts Kubota (9.25 percent), and Oracle Financial Services (8.90 percent) were among the top gainers in the space.
Among the sectoral front Nifty Index emerged the top gainer, settling higher by 6.70 percent, led by Oracle Financial Services (8.90 percent), Infosys (7.69 per cent).
The market breadth was also strong, with 3,441 stocks advancing, 521 declining, and 168 remaining unchanged. All sectoral indices, except pharma index, traded in the positive territory. Realty, IT and metal surged nearly 4 percent. Pharma stocks, however, witnessed selling pressure and volatility as US President Donald Trump plans to cut prescription drug prices.
The US-China trade deal also boosted the market sentiments easing concerns about the ongoing trade war. With the two countries agreeing to slash tariffs for 90 days, the market is expected to zoom further on Tuesday.
Among the top gainers were Infosys, Adani Enterprises, Shriram Finance, and HCL Tech while the biggest losers were IndusInd and Sun Pharma.
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap settled 3.85 percent higher and the BSE Smallcap gained 4.18 percent.
All the sectoral indices settled in green with Nifty IT and realty leading the gains at 6.7 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.
