Indian headline indices returned to their winning ways after a one-day hiatus, led by strong buying action in banks. While the S&P BSE Sensex rallied nearly 800 points on the broader Nifty50 climbed 150 points to scale past 22,600.
Volatility remained high as India VIX surged over 12% to 12.25.
Here are a few factors that led to the surge in Nifty and Sensex:
1) Banks and financials shine
Banking stocks which corner the highest weight in the 50-stock Nifty were trading with strong momentum. ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank and Kotak Bank were four of the top five index contributors today.
The Nifty Bank index hit a fresh lifetime high today, rising 1,200 points. Barring IDFC First Bank and Bandhan Bank, the remaining 10 counters in Nifty Bank were trading in the green. PSU Bank Index also rose over 2.5% around this time with 11 stocks trading positive with a lone loser in Punjab National Bank (PNB).
2) Global markets upbeat
The handover by Wall Street on Friday was positive with all three major headline indices ending strong. Nasdaq Composite finished Friday at 15,927.90, up by 316.14 points or 2.03% while S&P 500 closed at 5,099.96, gaining 51.54 points or 1.02%. Meanwhile, Dow 30 settled at 38,23 9.70, up by 153.86 points or 0.40%.
Major Asian indices reciprocated in a similar breath with Japan\’s Nikkei 225, Hong Kong\’s Hang Seng index and China\’s Shanghai Composite gaining between 0.81% and 0.65% around this time.
3) Crude oil prices fall
Slippages in crude oil prices also lend support to the markets. Crude oil prices were down thanks to some letdown in geo-political tensions that created panic after Iran\’s missile attacks on Israel earlier this month followed by the retaliation by the latter.
The US WTI crude oil contracts were trading at $83.030 per BBL, down by $0.820 or 0.980% while the Brent Oil futures were down by over $1 per BBL to $88.490.
4) Geopolitics tensions ease
Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East, boosting demand for risky assets like equities.
5) Benign greenback
US dollar cooled off on Monday ahead of the Fed\’s two-day monetary policy meeting beginning Tuesday. The event takes centre stage for the week, where expectations are for the central bank to keep rates on hold. The dollar index (DXY) was trading at 105.63, down by 0.31 points or 0.30%. In the last five sessions, it has declined by 0.45%.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)
