Mumbai: Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade Monday, driven by a sharp rally in bellwether Reliance Industries post earnings announcement and cooling crude oil prices.
Foreign fund inflows and a positive trend in Asian equities also added to the markets optimism during the initial trading.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 764.72 points to 75,216.80 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 201.40 points to 23,255.90.
From the 30 Sensex firms, Reliance Industries jumped over 6 per cent after the firm posted a record quarterly profit of Rs 29,550 crore for July-September, up 33.8 per cent from a year earlier, as its oil-to-chemicals business rode a surge in global fuel margins and growth in its telecom arm offset the relatively subdued performance in retail.
NTPC, Tata Steel, Power Grid, Maruti and State Bank of India were also among the gainers.
Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Titan and Infosys were trading lower.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 3 per cent lower at USD 110 per barrel.
“The slight cooling of Brent crude prices from last week’s high of USD 118 to USD 110 now is a relief. Equally important is the decline in the US 10-year bond yield to 4.93 per cent. But, perhaps, more important than these external tailwinds, is the sharp weakening of the AI trade which pulled down the Nasdaq by 2.8 per cent last Friday. Weakening trend in AI trade is beneficial for India which is widely regarded as a counter AI play,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 3,598.54 crore Friday, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index quoted higher.
The US markets ended sharply lower Friday.
On Friday, the Sensex climbed 308.49 points, or 0.42 per cent, to settle at 74,459.53. The Nifty rallied 116.35 points, or 0.51 per cent, to end at 23,053.10.
