Sensex jumped around 919 points to close at 77,550, while Nifty 50 gained over 275 points to settle at 24,050. The sharp surge added more than Rs 6.4 lakh crore to the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on BSE, pulling it up to Rs 451 lakh crore.
Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), IndiGo, State Bank of India (SBI), Axis Bank and Bajaj Finserv shares were the top gainers on Sensex, jumping 2-4%. Bucking the trend, IT stocks like TCS, HCL Tech, Infosys and TechMahindra dropped up to 3% after TCS’s Q4 earnings. Sun Pharma shares, however, were the top losers, tumbling nearly 4%.
As India Vix dropped around 8% to 18.85, small and midcap indices on NSE gained up to 1.5% each. Among the sectoral indices, Nifty Auto jumped nearly 3% to emerge as the top gainer, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Realty jumped over 2%. On the other hand, Nifty IT declined around 2%. Around 2,667 stocks advanced on NSE, while 575 declined and 100 remained unchanged.
Here are the key factors that drove market higher today:
1) Iran-US ceasefire hopes
All eyes are now on talks in Pakistan this weekend, as representatives from the United States and Iran meet to solidify the deal to end hostilities. While Iran and US finally agreed to a brief ceasefire brokered by Pakistan, Israel continued its parallel war against the Iran-aligned militia Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran accused both Israel and US of violating the conditions of the ceasefire agreement, and said that proceeding with peace talks would be “unreasonable”. However, Israel has now agreed to hold talks with Lebanon, sparking optimism around the much-awaited ceasefire talks finally taking place.
However, some caution is still warranted. US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Iran of doing a “very poor job” of allowing oil through the Strait of Hormuz and of breaching the terms of their two-week ceasefire agreement.
In a barrage of social media posts that sparked fresh fears for the shaky truce, Trump also warned Iran against imposing a toll for ships passing through the crucial waterway. “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
2) Oil prices below $100
Oil prices remained slightly up in the green, but still below the crucial $100 per barrel mark. Brent crude futures were hovering near $96, while WTI Crude was at around $98 per barrel on Friday afternoon.
Oil prices crossed the crucial $100 mark in March after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and have sustained for the majority of the time over that level since then.
3) Global markets rally
Global markets broadly remained in the green, with Japan’s Nikkei gaining nearly 2%, South Korea’s Kospi jumping over 1%, and China’s Shanghai Composite rising 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was also up nearly 0.6% on Friday.
European markets were in the green on Friday, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC rising around 0.5% each. The UK’s FTSE gained nearly 0.25%.
Wall Street had closed in the green on Thursday, as signs of ongoing negotiations toward a peaceful resolution to the six-week Middle East conflict helped ease worries over the fragile US-Iran truce. Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial average gained up to 0.65%. Dow Jones futures are however trading in the red with marginal losses.
4) Rupee strengthens
Indian rupee rose 6 paise to 92.45 against the US dollar. The Indian currency has recovered in April after a massive decline, breaching the key psychological mark of 95 last week amid the raging Iran-US war. The recovery came after the RBI last week stepped up its efforts to support the currency by barring banks from offering rupee non-deliverable forwards to resident and non-resident clients and preventing companies from rebooking cancelled forward contracts.
Bears hiding behind the bulls?
Despite the cheers on Dalal Street, several headwinds keep investors on edge. Foreign investors continue to remain net sellers of Indian equities, weighing on investor sentiment on Dalal Street. FIIs remained net sellers of Indian equities for the 27th consecutive session, selling shares worth nearly Rs 1,711 crore on Thursday, according to data on NSE. While this does not reflect today’s activity, sustained outflows in recent sessions have weighed on investor sentiment, even as domestic institutional investors remain net buyers.
Rupee also declined, falling 22 paise to close at 92.73 against the US dollar. The Indian currency has recovered in April after a massive decline, breaching the key psychological mark of 95 last week amid the raging Iran-US war. The recovery came after the RBI last week stepped up its efforts to support the currency by barring banks from offering rupee non-deliverable forwards to resident and non-resident clients and preventing companies from rebooking cancelled forward contracts.
What lies ahead?
The Nifty remained positive, supported by lower crude oil prices amid rising expectations of a concrete truce deal, said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities. He added that Nifty on the hourly chart has been steadily moving higher from the 200 SMA, confirming an improving environment for a bullish trend.
“On the daily timeframe, the RSI is in a bullish crossover and continues to rise, indicating strengthening momentum. In the short term, the trend may remain positive. On the other hand, if no concrete truce deal is reached by the weekend, the market might react negatively. Immediate support is placed at 23,800, below which the index may decline towards lower levels. On the upside, the 24,300–24,350 zone is likely to act as a resistance area,” he said.
SBI Securities, meanwhile, said that the immediate resistance for Nifty is placed in the 24200-24250 zone. Any sustainable move above this zone could result in Nifty extending its pullback towards 24400, followed by 24600 in the short term, it said. On the downside, the zone of 23850–23800 zone is likely to act as an immediate support, it added.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)