SENSEX surges over 500 points, NIFTY50 above 24,350 led by gains in IT, metal stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Friday, July 3, as investor sentiment remained bullish tracking weakness in crude prices and upside in other Asian markets. The SENSEX rose as much as 655 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,378 led by gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries and Tata Consultancy Services.

As of 9:32 am, the SENSEX was up 570 points at 78,069 and NIFTY50 index advanced 180 points to 23,355.

Asian markets were trading higher after a subdued US jobs data slashed hopes of a rate hike in the United States.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.6%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.59%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.24% and South Korea's KOSPI index 2.88%.

Most of the US stock indices ended lower on Thursday as selloff in AI related shares continued. Dow Jones surged to a record high, rising 1.14% to close at 52,900.

S&P 500 index ended unchanged while tech heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.8%.

Back home, buying was visible across board as 12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's 1.8% gain. NIFTY Pharma, IT, Financial Services, Private Bank, Realty, Healthcare and FMCG indices also rose between 0.5% and 1.5%.

On the flip side, PSU banking, select auto and media shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.2% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index rose 0.4%.

Among the individual shares, Avenue Supermarts declined over 4% after the company in its Q1 FY27 business update said its standalone revenue from operations rose 15% year-on-year to ₹18,343.49 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared with ₹15,932.12 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

HCL Tech was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose as much as 5.5% to hit an intraday high of ₹1,139 after it announced a strategic partnership worth an estimated $1.14 billion with a Europe-headquartered Fortune Global 50 company.

Under the agreement, HCLTech will establish an AI-driven operating model to transform and manage the client's global digital workplace and enterprise network operations.

The contract will run from July 2026 to December 2031, with an option to extend it for an additional five years.

Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Bharat Electronics, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's Labs, Wipro, Apollo Hospitals and JSW Steel also rose between 1.5% and 2.8%.

On the other hand, State Bank of India, Tata Motors PV, NTPC, Adani Enterprises, Titan, InterGlobe Aviation, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Adani Ports were notable losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,840 shares were advancing while 1,031 were declining on the NSE.