Stock markets rally for 4th straight day

Stock market benchmark indices ended higher on Monday, with the Sensex climbing 544.39 points and Nifty surging 1.60 per cent, following a sharp decline in crude oil prices amid easing geopolitical tensions.

Foreign fund inflows also added to markets’ optimism.

Extending the winning momentum to the fourth day, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 544.39 points, or 0.70 per cent, to settle at 78,639.03. During the day, it surged 800.46 points, or 1 per cent, to 78,895.10. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 390.70 points, or 1.60 per cent, to end at 24,774.30. From the Sensex pack, InterGlobe Aviation, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Eternal, ITC, and Axis Bank were among the major winners.

Sun Pharma, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

The BSE SmallCap Select index climbed 0.87 per cent and MidCap Select index edged higher by 0.73 per cent.

Among sectors, IT jumped 2.53 per cent, Focused IT (2.49 per cent), services (1.97 per cent), industrials (1.23 per cent), commodities (1.20 per cent), metal (1.14 per cent), FMCG (1.13 per cent), insurance (1.01 per cent) and PSU bank (1 per cent).

Hospitals, oil & gas, and healthcare were the laggards. A total of 2,837 stocks advanced, while 1,552 declined and 206 remained unchanged on the BSE.

In four trading days, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,873.11 points, or 2.44 per cent, and the Nifty climbed 788.95 points, or 3.28 per cent.

“Indian equity markets ended higher, supported by broad-based buying as easing tensions in the Middle East and a sharp decline in global crude oil prices boosted investor sentiment,” Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.

The rollout of the new Closing Auction Session (CAS) rules was effective from Monday.

Under the new framework, closing prices are discovered through an auction mechanism that aggregates market interest into a single pool of liquidity, improves execution efficiency for large orders, supports fair settlement of derivatives and indices, and facilitates passive funds transacting at closing prices with lower tracking error.

“With the CAS rollout from today, continuous trading in F&O-linked stocks stops at 3.15 pm and the market transitions into a 20-minute closing auction that determines the official closing price within a ±3 per cent band around a VWAP-based reference price. When large institutional orders are concentrated into this auction window, price can move quickly in the final minutes, especially if there is aggressive buying or short covering across heavyweight Nifty constituents,” Radhakrishnan, said.

The sharp late-session move in the Nifty from around 24,589 to the 24,774 region reflects this system-driven concentration of liquidity and orders into the new auction structure, amplifying the end-of-day adjustment rather than a gradual intra-day trend change, he added.

Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, tumbled 4.62 per cent to USD 83.88 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 277.48 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

After four straight months of selling, foreign investors turned net buyers of Indian equities in July, pumping in Rs 20,200 crore, aided by attractive valuations, improving corporate earnings and easing global headwinds.

“The decline in crude oil prices, driven by expectations of renewed dialogue between the US and Iran, provided relief to markets by easing concerns over inflation and corporate earnings. Market sentiment was further supported by a rebound in FII inflows and a strengthening rupee, although elevated US bond yields remain a key risk to the sustainability of foreign flows into emerging markets,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s KOSPI tanked 5.12 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Shanghai’s SSE Composite index also settled lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended higher.

Markets in Europe were trading in the green. US markets ended in positive territory on Friday.

On Friday, the Sensex climbed 166.49 points, or 0.21 per cent, to settle at 78,094.64. The Nifty gained 66.45 points, or 0.27 per cent, to end at 24,383.60.