A reversal in crude oil trend triggered buying in financial, tech, and telecom stocks on Friday, pushing Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty up. As reports of easing tensions in the Middle East emerged, world markets experienced an uptick, and foreign investors returned to India as net buyers.
This led to the Sensex and Nifty recovering by more than 1 per cent on Friday after slipping for three straight market days.
The 30-pack BSE Sensex soared by 1,046.30 points (up 1.29 per cent) to settle at 82,408.17, while the NSE Nifty 50 surged 319.15 points (up 1.29 per cent) to a 25,112.40 close.
Market watchers attributed the recovery run to an expected US intervention to de-escalate the war between Israel and Iran.
“Equity indices surged as Middle East tension moderated with risk of immediate military actions reduced as US dialogue with Iran is expected to take place. The development led the crude price to correct, favouring domestic markets and boosting foreign investors’ sentiments.”, said Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments.
In the Sensex, the losses by Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki were offset by a majority of gainers, led by Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Mahindra and Mahindra, Power Grid, Reliance Industries, NTPC, Eternal, and HDFC Bank. Asian markets all closed in the green. However, weaker earnings and a dip in crude pushed the European and US markets down. Global oil benchmark Brent crude slid 2.36 per cent to $76.99 per barrel in futures trade for the day.
The rupee, too, recovered from its three-day dip, rising by 18 paise to settle at 86.55 against the dollar on Friday.
During the last trading day of the week, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought a net ₹7,940.70 crore worth of equities.
