SENSEX surges over 500 points, NIFTY50 above 24,500 as drop in crude oil spurs positive sentiment

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Monday, August 3, as investor sentiment turned positive after a drop in crude oil prices in global markets.

The SENSEX rose as much as 800 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,576 led by gains in index heavyweights like Bajaj Finance, ITC, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys, InterGlobe Aviation, Reliance Industries and State Bank of India.

As of 9:22 am, the benchmarks gave up some initial gains, but SENSEX was up 454 points at 78,549 and NIFTY50 index advanced 137 points to 24,520.

Market sentiment got a boost from falling crude prices despite weakness in other Asian markets.

Crude oil prices dropped following reports that US President Donald Trump cancelled military strikes on Iran. Trump said that negotiations with Iran are set to begin on Monday, with a deal regarding the Strait of Hormuz expected soon.

Most of Asian markets were trading lower despite a drop in crude oil as investor sentiment in the region remained subdued on the back of a selloff in artificial intelligence (AI) related shares.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.5%, China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.64%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.1% and South Korea's KOSPI fell 4%.

12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY FMCG index's 1.6% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, IT, Metal, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Realty and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.3% and 1%.

On the other hand, select healthcare, pharma and media shares were facing selling pressure.

The broader markets were also witnessing buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.6% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 1%.

Among the individual shares, Zee Entertainment dropped as much as 12.4% to hit an intraday low of ₹100 after markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) imposed penalty of ₹1.48 crore on the company's Chief Executive Punit Goenka and Founder-Chairman Subhash Chandra for securities law violations.

SEBI also barred Goenka and Chandra from the securities market ⁠for one year.

Urban Company shares advanced over 15% after the company said that InstaHelp, its quick-service housekeeping vertical, crossed 100,000 delivered orders in a single day on Sunday, August 2, 2026.

ITC was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose nearly 4% to ₹291 despite reporting a a decline of 27% in its standalone net profit at ₹3,579 crore in the first quarter of current financial year.

Tata Motors PV, InterGlobe Aviation, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, Adani Enterprises and Dr Reddy's Labs also rose between 1.6% and 2.5%.

On the flip side, Maruti Suzuki dropped 2% to ₹13,981 after it reported a standalone net profit of ₹3,352 crore in the April-June quarter, registering an 11% decline from ₹3,758 crore during the same period last year. The fall was primarily driven by higher material costs during the quarter, which further intensified due to the impact of the war.

Sun Pharma, Eternal, Cipla, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Apollo Hospitals, NTPC and HCL Technologies were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,404 shares were advancing while 563 were declining on the NSE.