SENSEX, NIFTY50 edge higher; Dixon Tech surges after cabinet approves mobile phone manufacturing scheme

The Indian equity benchmarks moved higher on Thursday, July 16, defying weak cues from other Asian markets after Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved two major manufacturing initiatives with a combined outlay of nearly ₹1.9 lakh crore to expand India's semiconductor ecosystem, scale up mobile phone production and strengthen its position as a global electronics manufacturing hub.

The SENSEX rose as much as 329 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,167 led by gains in index heavyweights like Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HCL Technologies, Maruti Suzuki and TCS.

As of 9:25 am, the SENSEX was up 240 points at 77,425 and NIFTY50 index advanced 65 points to 24,145.

Asian markets were trading lower as crude oil prices jumped after Iran’s army said that it targeted communications systems, a fixed radar site and fuel depots of the US military at Jordan’s Azraq Air Base using attack drones, news agency Al Jazeera reported. Meanwhile, US Central Command said it has completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran.

CENTCOM said, US forces “struck Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities” with the aim of degrading Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera report added. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.83%. South Korea's KOSPI plunged 6.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6%.

Brent Crude futures rose as much as 0.82% to $85.65 per barrel.

Back home, nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the NIFTY Realty index's 0.66% fall. NIFTY Private Bank, Financial Services, Bank, PSU Bank, Metal and Healthcare indices were also trading with a negative bias.

On the other hand, IT, auto, FMCG, consumer durables and oil & gas shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were trading on a subdued note as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.2% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.05%.

Among the individual shares, Dixon Technologies surged as much as 7.57% to hit an intraday high of ₹14,685 after the Union cabinet on Wednesday approved two major manufacturing initiatives with a combined outlay of nearly ₹1.9 lakh crore to expand India's semiconductor ecosystem, scale up mobile phone production and strengthen its position as a global electronics manufacturing hub.

The government approved the ₹1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 programme to accelerate semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities, alongside the ₹62,500 crore Mobile Phone Manufacturing Scheme (MPMS) aimed at increasing domestic production, boosting exports and deepening local value addition in the mobile phone industry.

HCL Tech was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.3% to ₹1,194. Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Hindalco, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Titan and Nestle India also rose between 0.6% and 1.4%.

On the flip side, HDFC Life dropped 2% to ₹558 after its Q1 earnings failed to impress investors.

The country's leading private sector life insurer reported a 12% year-on-year increase in its net profit to ₹611 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, driven by higher premium collection.

The insurer's net profit stood at ₹546 crore a year earlier.

HDFC Life's net premium income rose to ₹16,548 crore during the June quarter of FY27 from ₹14,466 crore a year ago, according to a stock exchange filing.

Jio Financial Services, Eternal, Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Grasim, BEL and ONGC were also among top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,367 shares were advancing while 1,371 were advancing on the NSE.