Sensex, Nifty jump in early trade as global cues lift sentiment, Iran-Israel ceasefire boosts outlook

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rallied on Wednesday, tracking strong global cues and easing Middle East tensions after a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. Gains were supported by falling crude prices, positive Asian markets, and domestic institutional buying.

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade on Wednesday mirroring a rally in global markets amid signs of easing tensions in the Middle East following a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 426.79 points to 82,481.90 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 123.25 points to 25,167.60.

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From the 30-Sensex firms, Titan, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever and Tata Steel were among the major gainers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank were the laggards.

“Markets are expected to open on a positive note, supported by easing geopolitical tensions following the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, US market closing on a 4-month high, and a sharp drop in crude oil prices— down over 15 per cent in the past few days to below $68 per barrel, a 5-month low,” Vikas Jain, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, said, in his pre-open market commentary.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were trading higher while Japan’s Nikkei 225 index quoted marginally lower.

US markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

“A significant feature of the recent market trend has been its resilience despite major challenges like the West Asian crisis. Even during the short India-Pak conflict the market has been resilient. A significant contributor to this resilience has been FII buying during the crisis. Interestingly FIIs have been selling, like yesterday, after the crisis blows over.

“On the other hand DIIs have been sustained buyers in the market, thanks to the continuing inflows into mutual funds. This will impart resilience to the market even when FIIs sell on valuation concerns,” VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.30 per cent to USD 68.01 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,266.01 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DII) bought stocks worth Rs 5,209.60 crore.

On Tuesday, the 30-share Sensex settled in the green, climbing 158.32 points or 0.19 per cent to 82,055.11. On similar lines, the Nifty rose by 72.45 points or 0.29 per cent to end at 25,044.35.