Dalal Street opened green on Wednesday, extending its gains for a ninth session after the short Diwali break. Foreign inflows, lower crude oil prices and strong corporate earnings have boosted investor sentiment.
The benchmark Nifty 50 climbed 1.5 per cent to reach a high of 25,424.35. The BSE Sensex gained 1.74 per cent to hit 82,520.40.
IndiGo, Mahindra and Mahindra, the State Bank of India, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank were winners in the Sensex lot while Sun Pharma and Titan lagged behind.
IndiGo shares may have been buoyed by falling global crude prices, which are expected to lower aviation turbine fuel (ATF), a major operational cost pressure for the airline. Brokerages also maintained a positive outlook after the company’s Q2 earnings.
Today’s rally was also led by heavy buying in financial stocks, with the Nifty Bank index gaining 1.84 per cent and all 14 stocks trading higher. India’s bank deposit growth has accelerated to over 17 per cent year-on-year, driven primarily by strong inflows into Foreign Currency Non-Resident Bank (FCNR-B) deposit schemes.
The Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex have gained about 10 per cent so far this month amid the Democrats’ victory in the US midterm elections and a global AI-linked stock sell-off.
Factors influencing the market
Brent crude oil prices dropped close to their 10-week low, hovering around $92 per barrel. The Democrats’ victory and US President Donald Trump’s comments on de-escalating the conflict pointed towards easing tensions between the US and Iran.
Foreign investors returned to domestic equities, with buyers pumping up to ₹55,000 crore into equities in the past eight trading days.
Wall Street ended lower overnight as US inflation rose 0.4 per cent in October, leading investors to fear a Fed rate hike in December. Fed Governor Christopher Waller’s commentary also pointed towards a rate hike. Dow Jones closed 0.3 per cent lower. S&P 500 settled down 0.38 per cent, and the Nasdaq fell 0.74 per cent.
The sentiment hit the Asian markets as well, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.22 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi slipping 0.48 per cent. The Hang Seng index opened lower, down 0.83 per cent.
