SENSEX rises over 650 points, NIFTY50 reclaims 24,900; here are key factors behind surge

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading sharply higher in trade on Monday, June 16, with the 30-share SENSEX rising as much as 663 points and NIFTY50 index reclaiming its important psychological level of 24,900 amid stable cues from Asian markets despite surge in crude oil prices. As of 11:41 am the SENSEX was up 570 points or 0.70% at 81,689 and NIFTY50 index advanced 185 points or 0.75% to 24,903.

Stable cues from Asian markets

Most or the Asian markets were trading higher on Monday despite a spike in crude prices as the conflict between Iran and Israel showed no signs of cooling adding to the geopolitical uncertainty to the world's economic troubles in a week packed with central bank meetings, news agency Reuters reported.

Japan's Nikkei rose 1.28%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.22%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.3% and South Korea's KOSPI rose 1.77%.

India US nearing a trade deal

Sentiment towards equities also got a boost after reports suggested that India and the US are close to working out the final contours of the "early tranche" of the proposed bilateral trade agreement and are now starting work on the possible text for the deal, which is likely to be finalised before July 9, when American president Donald Trump plans to remove the freeze on reciprocal tariffs, The Time of India reported.

Boost from heavyweights and broad-based buying

Index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and ICICI Bank were among top movers in the SENSEX. They alone added over 300 points towards gains in the SENSEX, data from BSE showed.

Most sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher by NIFTY IT index's over 1% gain. NIFTY Metal, Financial Services, Bank, FMCG, Private Bank, Realty and Oil & Gas indices also rose around 0.5%.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.22% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index was largely unchanged.

India VIX, the gauge of fear, was trading 2.28% lower providing relief to market participants.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

In the NIFTY50 basket of shares, 44 were trading higher led by SBI Life's 2.1% gain. HDFC Life, Cipla, ONGC, Trent, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement and TCS also rose between 1.5%-2%.

On the flipside, Adani Ports was among the notable losers in the NIFTY50 index after reports suggested that Iran targeted port city of Haifa in the ongoing conflict with Israel Adani Ports operates port in Haifa.

The company has however clarified that Haifa Port in Israel, operated by the Adani Group, sustained no damage during Iran’s recent missile attack, according to a PTI report.

Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma, State Bank of India and IndusInd Bank were also among the notable losers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,358 shares were declining while 1,475 were advancing on the BSE.