SENSEX rises over 250 points, NIFTY50 holds 23,900 led by gains in FMCG, IT shares

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher on Tuesday, June 16, powered as investor sentiment remained upbeat following a decline crude prices and strength in rupee against the US dollar. The SENSEX rose as much as 322 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,941 led by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, HCL Technologies and Hindustan Unilever.

As of 9:25 am, the SENSEX was 280 points at 76,550 and NIFTY50 index advanced 71 points to 23,924.

Most of the Asian markets were trading lower on account of profit booking after a massive surge in the previous session. Japan's Nikkei declined 0.23%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.9% and China's Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.2%.

US stocks ended sharply higher on Monday on the back of a bullish sentiment after United States and Iran agreed on a peace deal in West Asia.

Tech heavy Nasdaq advanced 3.037%, Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.92% and S&P 500 index surged 1.65%.

Back home, buying was visible across board as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY IT index's nearly 1% gain. NIFTY FMCG, Realty, Media, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.3% and 1%.

On the flip side, NIFTY Metal index dropped over 1% tracking an overnight fall in aluminium prices in global markets.

Among the individual shares, Devyani International and Sapphire Foods rose over 5% each after the companies received an observation letter with no objection from NSE and BSE for the proposed Scheme of Arrangement between Devyani International and Sapphire Foods.

HCL Technologies was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 3.23% to ₹1,155 after the company invested in sovereign AI company Sarvam at a post-money valuation of $1.5 billion.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Consumer Products, SBI Life and Larsen & Toubro also rose between 1.3% and 2.2%.

On the other hand, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Axis Bank, HDFC Life, Tata Motors PV, Eicher Motors, Power Grid, Ultratech Cement and Max Healthcare were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,864 shares were advancing while 939 were declining on the NSE.