Indian equity markets opened Monday's trade on a strong footing, with the Sensex climbing by more than 522 points to a morning high of 77,325.56 and the Nifty surging by 154 points to as high as 24,168.05. The rebound came after a bruising Friday that saw the Sensex shed 607 points and the Nifty fall nearly 155 points in the wake of Accenture's shock revenue warning.
The primary catalyst was renewed optimism over the US–Iran peace process. Over the weekend, two days of talks at the Swiss resort of Burgenstock concluded with a joint statement from mediators, including Qatar, outlining a roadmap aimed at reaching a final agreement within 60 days.
The news helped settle nerves after a tense opening to the talks. Iran had briefly announced another closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and President Donald Trump had reiterated threats to resume military strikes—developments that had rattled energy markets before the positive outcome emerged.
Brent crude fell 1.5 per cent to $79.36 a barrel on Monday, extending the oil-price relief that has been one of the key drivers of India's five-week market recovery.
Reliance Industries was the standout stock of the session, gaining 2.3 per cent following its annual general meeting on Friday, where brokerages highlighted the IPO-bound Jio Platforms, Reliance's AI ambitions, and its new energy business as the conglomerate's key growth engines.
The IT sector also clawed back some of Friday's losses, with the IT index rising 1.2 per cent after it had tumbled 3.7 per cent in the previous session. Thirteen of the 16 major sectors advanced, with small-caps up 0.4 per cent and mid-caps gaining 0.2 per cent.
The session's most striking development, however, was the scale of the foreign investor comeback. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought Indian equities worth ₹4,859.07 crore on Friday, their biggest single-day net purchase since early February, driven in part by portfolio rebalancing triggered by changes to an FTSE index. The inflows marked a sharp reversal for foreign investors who had collectively sold a record $30.6 billion of Indian equities year-to-date.
