SENSEX, NIFTY50 rise for second straight session as crude oil drops below $100 per barrel

The Indian equity benchmarks rose for a second straight session on Tuesday, October 5, as investor sentiment improved after crude oil prices dropped below $100 per barrel.

The SENSEX surged 685 points to close at 73,068 and NIFTY50 index climbed 220 points to close at 22,776 on account of short covering aftermarkets went into oversold zone.

Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Eternal were top movers in the SENSEX.

Brent crude futures dropped below its crucial psychological level of $100 per barrel after G7 countries decided to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from emergency reserves, thereby easing supply concerns.

Brent crude futures for Delivery in December fell as much as 2.4% to $97.91 per barrel.

Back home, RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will announce its decision on interest rates tomorrow and it is expected to raise benchmark interest rate by at least 25 basis points as inflationary pressures build and global central banks turn more hawkish, according to economists and bankers.

A rate hike would be the first since February 2023, when the RBI raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.50%.

The central bank subsequently kept rates unchanged through 2023-24 before starting an easing cycle in 2025. The repo rate currently stands at 5.25%.

Buying was visible across board as 12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended higher led by the NIFTY Pharma index's 1.6% gain. NIFTY Oil & Gas, Private Bank, Metal, FMCG, Financial Services and Bank indices also rose between 0.76% and 1.58%.

On the other hand, IT, realty and select PSU banking shares witnessed selling pressure.

Broader markets also witnessed buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 1.08% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index climbed 1.6%.

Trent was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 12.64% to close at ₹2,906 after the company reported a strong business update for the September quarter (Q2 FY27).

In its provisional business update shared on Monday, the company said its standalone revenue from operations, excluding GST, rose 23% year-on-year to ₹5,788 crore in Q2 FY27, compared with ₹4,724 crore a year ago. Revenue from merchandise sales, excluding other operating income, also grew 23% during the quarter.

BSE jumped nearly 4% to close at ₹3,305 after reports suggested that 30-minute volume weighted average price (VWAP) window may return for derivatives expiry replacing the closing auction session (CAS) mechanism which was implemented last month.

Kotak Mahindra Bank gained 3.8% after its net advances in September quarter rose 24.7% to ₹5.77 lakh crore and deposits rose 13.7% to ₹6.51 lakh crore.

Nestle India, Hindustan Unilever, Jio Financial Services, Reliance Industries, Eternal, Asian Paints, HDFC Life, SBI Life and InterGlobe Aviation also rose between 2.34% and 3.42%.

On the flip side, Coal India, Tech Mahindra, Max Healthcare, Tata Motors PV, UltraTech Cement, Apollo Hospitals, ITC, Titan, Infosys and Shriram Finance were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,455 shares ended higher while 1,125 closed lower on the NSE.