SENSEX surges over 500 points, NIFTY50 firm above 24,350 led by HDFC Bank, Infosys

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a gap up opening on Thursday, April 16, mirroring gains in global markets after sentiment remained positive on hopes of an end to war in Iran. The SENSEX rose as much as 589 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,392 powered by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance and Eternal.

As of 9:22 am, the SENSEX was up 537 points at 78,649 and NIFTY50 index advanced 159 points to 24,390.

Asian markets were trading higher and crude oil prices softened as investor sentiment improved on expectations of a deal between United States and Iran to end the war and restore operations at the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Nikkei advanced 2.27%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.12%, China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.45% and South Korea's KOSPI jumped 2.1%.

Overnight, US stocks ended at record highs as Bank of America and Morgan Stanley reported stronger than anticipated quarterly earnings.

Back home, buying was visible across board as 13 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's 1.4% gain. NIFTY IT, Bank, Financial Services, Metal, PSU Bank, Consumer Durables and Realty indices also rose between 0.7% and 1.4%.

Defence shares were witnessing strong buying interest, the measure of defence shares on the NSE, NIFTY India Defence index advanced nearly 2% with 16 of 19 stocks in the index trading higher after Director General (Missiles and Strategic Systems) at DRDO, Ummalaneni Raja Babu, says, "We are working on a concept called the Development cum Production Partner (DCPP) model, where we are handing over the entire missile production to the private companies." That way, private companies work very closely with DRDO in making all the systems."

Mid- and small-cap shares were also witnessing buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.8% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index surged 1%.

Hindalco was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2.4% to ₹1,035 following surge in copper and aluminium futures on the MCX.

Eternal, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and Larsen & Toubro were also among the top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

On the flip side, Apollo Hospitals, Sun Pharma, Tata Consumer Products, ONGC, Coal India, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto and Titan were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,168 shares were advancing while 598 were declining on the NSE.