India's stock markets closed sharply higher for the second consecutive session on Thursday, May 14, with the BSE Sensex jumping 789.74 points (up 1.06 per cent) to settle at 75,398.72 and the Nifty 50 climbing 277 points (up 1.18 per cent) to close at 23,689.60.
The Sensex slipped into negative territory in late morning deals before value buyers stepped in, pushing the index to an intraday high of 75,681.88 before it settled lower.
The recovery comes after the blue-chip indices had shed 4 per cent across the previous four sessions, making Thursday's close a meaningful, if still tentative, reversal.
The driver of the day was unmistakably Bharti Airtel, which surged over 5 per cent after its annual revenue crossed the ₹2 lakh crore mark for the first time, which made it the session's biggest Sensex gainer.
HDFC Bank rose 2.7 per cent, snapping a five-session losing streak, while Eternal, Bajaj Finance, M&M, SBI, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Trent were also among the gainers.
Fifteen of 16 major sectoral indices ended in the green, and mid-caps gained 1.1 per cent, a much broader recovery than Wednesday's narrow large-cap hike.
The IT sector, however, saw a rout, slipping 2 per cent on Thursday, extending its four-session losses to 6.9 per cent. Concerns about artificial intelligence disrupting traditional IT revenue models, and a global risk-off sentiment, have been weighing on TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, and Tech Mahindra despite the weak rupee, which usually props up dollar-earning exporters.
The Trump-Xi summit in Beijing delivered a joint commitment that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open for the free flow of energy, according to a White House readout. Adding to investor confidence the anticipation of potential government measures, including possible bond tax relief for foreign investors and tightening of the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) to stem capital outflows.
Rupee closes in on 96 to dollar
Despite the recovery in equities, the rupee settled at a fresh record low of 95.73 against the US dollar, down 7 paise from its previous close of 95.66 after touching an intraday low of 95.96. This was the weakest level the Indian currency has ever seen.
The rupee has now lost over 6 per cent since the West Asia conflict began, making it Asia's worst-performing currency in 2026. The dollar index stood at 98.51, and Brent crude was at $106.16–106.48 per barrel.
Another development was the Centre’s inflation data announcement. Wholesale price inflation (WPI) surged to a 42-month high of 8.3 per cent in April 2026, against 3.88 per cent in March and just 0.85 per cent in April 2025. The Commerce Ministry attributed the inflation spike to "mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, basic metals, other manufacturing and non-food articles".
The April 2026 number was the highest wholesale inflation recording in India in 3.5 years. WPI feeds into Producer Price Indices and eventually into retail inflation (CPI). And CPI has a major role to play in whether the RBI can cut rates to lift a slowing economy.
