The 30-share Sensex reclaimed 80,000 points after four months on Wednesday, as benchmark indices extended their winning run for the seventh consecutive trading session.
However, there was some turbulence during the day, with the Sensex briefly slipping into negative territory. It rebounded later, recouping all intraday losses, largely driven by a rally in IT shares. The Sensex closed at 80,116.49, up 520.90 points or 0.65%, and the Nifty at 24,328.95, gaining 161.70 points or 0.67%.
Over the seven sessions, realty, auto, metal, consumer discretionary, industrials, and financial services emerged as the top-performing sectors, each gaining over 10%.
“Optimism soared as US President Donald Trump confirmed Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s continuation, and US-China trade talks showed signs of progress,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president (research) at Mehta Equities. He added that broader sentiment remained upbeat amid continued buying by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and hopes that India could benefit from the ongoing US-China tariff war.
“The Indian equity market sustained its positive momentum, driven by better-than-expected IT results and optimistic forward-looking commentary. However, profit booking was visible in financials after the recent sharp rally,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services. He further noted that easing US-China trade tensions and a rally in US tech stocks have boosted global market sentiment.
With Wednesday’s gains, the Sensex has surged over 6,200 points (8.5%), while the Nifty has added more than 1,900 points (8.6%) over the last seven sessions.
Outperforming the benchmark indices, broader markets posted sharper gains during the seven-session rally. The BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices jumped 10.4% and 10.9%, respectively. On Wednesday, they rose 0.94% and 0.26%, respectively.
Investor wealth rose by `3.1 lakh crore on Wednesday, with a cumulative increase of `36.7 lakh crore over the past seven sessions.
During this period, FPIs — the key drivers of the rally — purchased shares worth $2.3 billion (Rs 19,837 crore), while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 4,585 crore. On Wednesday, FPIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 3,332.93 crore, whereas DIIs were net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 1,234.46 crore, according to provisional BSE data.
The IT sector was the top performer on Wednesday, posting a 4% gain, followed by TECK, auto, realty, and capital goods, which rose up to 3.10%. In contrast, banking, consumer durables, and financial services were the top laggards, declining up to 0.94%.
Among Nifty 50 stocks, IndusInd Bank, Jio Financial Services, HCL Technologies, Trent, and M&M were the top gainers, advancing up to 16.9% during the seven-day rally.