Indian stock markets extended their rally for a second straight session on Thursday, with the benchmark BSE Sensex surging nearly 790 points in a volatile trading day, supported by strong buying in telecom, pharmaceutical and private banking stocks.
The 30-share Sensex climbed 789.74 points, or 1.06 per cent, to settle at 75,398.72. After opening in positive territory, the index briefly slipped into the red during late morning trade. However, renewed value buying in telecom and banking counters helped the market recover sharply, with the benchmark later soaring over 1,000 points intraday to touch a high of 75,681.88.
Continuing its upward momentum for the second consecutive day, the NIFTY 50 gained 277 points, or 1.18 per cent, to close at 23,689.60.
Among the Sensex constituents, Bharti Airtel emerged as the top gainer, rallying more than 5 per cent after the telecom major reported annual revenues crossing the Rs 2 lakh crore milestone for the first time.
Eternal advanced 3.32 per cent, while HDFC Bank rose 2.67 per cent and contributed significantly to the benchmark’s gains. Other major gainers included Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan Company, Trent, UltraTech Cement, ITC and State Bank of India.
On the losing side were Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki India. According to Vinod Nair, Indian equities staged a strong recovery from intraday lows despite pressure from a record-low rupee and elevated crude oil prices.
He said investor sentiment improved amid expectations of possible government measures to stabilise the rupee, including potential tax relief on bond investments for foreign investors and tighter rules under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme to curb capital outflows.
Nair also noted that optimism surrounding the Trump-Xi summit boosted confidence by raising hopes for greater economic cooperation between the United States and China.
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Sector-wise, pharma and healthcare stocks gained on sectoral rotation, while metal stocks rose due to stronger commodity prices and improving demand expectations from China. IT shares, however, continued to remain under pressure.
The BSE SmallCap Select index rose 0.86 per cent, while the MidCap Select index added 0.40 per cent. Among sectoral indices, telecom stocks led the gains with a rise of 2.87 per cent, followed by healthcare at 2.08 per cent, metals at 2.03 per cent, utilities at 1.59 per cent, power at 1.44 per cent, and both PSU Bank and Private Bank indices at 1.38 per cent each.
Overall market breadth remained positive, with 2,107 stocks advancing, 2,076 declining and 190 remaining unchanged on the BSE.
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies increased by Rs 6.82 lakh crore over the past two sessions to reach Rs 462.85 lakh crore (USD 4.83 trillion).
Meanwhile, wholesale price inflation surged to a 42-month high of 8.3 per cent, driven primarily by rising energy prices amid supply disruptions caused by the West Asia conflict. WPI inflation had stood at 3.88 per cent in March and 0.85 per cent in April last year.
Vikram Kasat said domestic markets rebounded sharply despite a cautious start due to supportive global cues, easing foreign fund outflows and hopes of favourable policy measures.
He added that investor confidence was also supported by expectations of stronger domestic economic indicators and earnings growth.
Siddhartha Khemka said that with the earnings season nearing completion, investor attention was gradually shifting back to global macroeconomic developments, geopolitical tensions and policy-related triggers, including ongoing US-China trade discussions and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-nation foreign visit.
Khemka added that India was considering reducing taxes on bond investments by foreign investors to attract overseas capital inflows, improve liquidity and strengthen demand for Indian government securities.
In Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and China’s SSE Composite closed lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended flat. South Korea’s Kospi, however, finished higher.
European markets traded in positive territory, while Wall Street had closed mostly higher on Wednesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed nearly 1 per cent to USD 106.48 per barrel. The Indian rupee weakened further, touching a record low of 95.73 against the US dollar amid rising crude prices and continued foreign fund outflows.
According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,703.15 crore on Wednesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 5,869.05 crore. On Wednesday, the Sensex had ended 49.74 points higher at 74,608.98, while the Nifty gained 33.05 points to settle at 23,412.60.
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