Indian stock markets surged to their best levels in weeks on Monday morning, powered by a sharp fall in global crude oil prices below $100 a barrel.
The BSE Sensex hit an intraday high of 76,334.77, gaining over 919 points from Friday's close of 75,415.35. The NSE Nifty 50 climbed to an intraday high of 23,989.10, up roughly 270 points from its previous close of 23,719.30.
All 16 major sectoral indices logged gains. Brent crude fell 5.6 per cent to trade at $97.76 a barrel, its first dip below $100 in more than two weeks, after US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Washington and Tehran had "largely negotiated" a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Despite Trump’s comments on Sunday, the markets seem to have latched onto the overall optimism.
Oil company stocks soared, with BPCL, HPCL, and Indian Oil each gaining well over between 4 per cent. The state-owned fuel retailers had also raised diesel and petrol prices for the fourth time this month to recover accumulated losses.
On the Sensex, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen and Toubro, and InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) featured among the top gainers. TCS and Sun Pharma were among the laggards.
Rupee recovery
The rupee, too, joined the rally. The Indian currency appreciated 40 paise to 95.20 against the US dollar in early trade on optimism around the US-Iran peace process, after having already gained 75 paise on Friday to close at 95.60.
Foreign Institutional Investors, however, remained net sellers, having offloaded equities worth ₹4,440.47 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
Asian markets were broadly higher, with Japan's Nikkei 225 and Shanghai's SSE Composite trading in positive territory. South Korean and Hong Kong markets were closed for public holidays.
