Indian Markets Hold Firm at Midday; Financials and Autos Power Nifty 

Mumbai, April 10: Indian equity indices opened in green territory on Friday and were trading higher at noon as investors favoured bank, auto and realty stocks amid severe declines in technology shares. At 12: 12 PM on April 10, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading up 761 points or 0.99% at 77,392 and the NSE Nifty 50 reclaimed the 24,000 barrier, advancing 235 points or 0.99% to 24,010 despite Thursday’s heavy 931-point tumble in the Sensex that had spooked market sentiment.

Nifty Midcap and Smallcap 100 Move Higher

It was a uniformly green midday market across broad and sectoral indices. Nifty 100 traded higher by 1.00% at 24,737, Nifty Midcap 100 climbed 1.11% to 57,608 and Nifty Smallcap 100 jumped 1.58% to 16,827 — suggesting strong investor interest across large-, mid- and small-cap issues. Among sectoral gauges, Nifty Financial Services led the large-cap pack higher by 1.90%, Nifty Auto climbed 2.42% and Nifty Realty gained 2.55%, while technology stocks remained heavily-sold with Nifty IT down 2.49% at noon — the lone laggard among NSE sectoral indices.

Asian Paints Adds Most to Nifty 50 Index; ICICI Bank Traded Heavily

Asian Paints was the top performer on the Nifty 50 at noon, gaining 4.03% to ₹2,361 from its previous close of ₹2,269 — easily the highest on the blue-chip index for the paints company, as aggressive bargain-buying lifted AP amidst the sharp underperformance seen in recent sessions. ICICI Bank was the second biggest gainer on the index, rising 2.93% to ₹1,318 from ₹1,281 — helped by volume (over 74 lakh shares traded) and value (₹983 crore traded, highest among all gainers) spikes that suggested healthy institutional buying interest in the private bank stock through mid-session.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Axis Bank Also Gain

Mahindra & Mahindra gained 2.91% to ₹3,258 from ₹3,166, Eicher Motors added 2.86% to ₹7,352 from ₹7,147 and Axis Bank increased 2.47% to ₹1,351 from ₹1,318 — with automakers and lenders rounding out the rest of the top gainers on the Nifty 50 index. In contrast, Sun Pharma was the biggest loser on the Nifty 50 at noon, plunging 4.89% to ₹1,633 from ₹1,717. The other Nifty 50 decliners with double-digit losses were Infosys which dropped 3.48% to ₹1,285 from ₹1,331 and TCS which declined 3.01% to ₹2,511 from ₹2,589 — illustrating a broad rotation away from IT stocks towards cyclical names.

Market Breadth Indicates Healthy Retail Investor Participation

Nifty Next 50 was trading up 1.35% to 67,166 and Nifty Smallcap 250 was up 1.53% to 15,740 at noon, both indices outperforming the Nifty 50’s gain of 0.99% — indicating healthy market breadth and signalling strong retail investor participation in today’s market rebound. Meanwhile, India VIX continued its recent downtrend and slumped 7.36% to 18.92, extending declines for the fourth consecutive session after hitting extreme fear levels earlier this week during the worst phase of the Iran crisis.

Realty Index Upbeat; Private Bank & Media Indices Jump Too

Sectorally, Nifty Realty was trading higher by 2.55% at noon to reach 762, rising on strong buying in Lodha which jumped 5.96% to ₹836, ABREL which soared 6.00% to ₹1,366, Brigade which climbed 3.32% to ₹724 and Phoenix Limited which advanced 3.11% to ₹1,763 — as investors continued to scoop up beaten-down realty stocks following the RBI’s status quo stance on interest rates. Nifty Private Bank jumped 2.12% to 26,816, boosted by ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and RBL Bank among others as private lenders attracted investors on expectations of improving credit demand. Nifty Media rallied too, jumping 2.21% to 1,368, with Network18 up 4.06%, Hathway 4.30% and Sun TV 3.12% among the biggest contributors.

Oil Extends Rally as Saudi Supplies Hit; Brent Moves Above $97

Oil prices extended gains on Friday as renewed tensions across the Middle East pushed Brent crude above $97 a barrel and US WTI higher too. Cracks were detected in Saudi Arabia’s crucial East-West pipeline and the strikes at state-run Saudi Aramco may have halved output at the world’s biggest oil processing facility in Abqaiq, trimming daily crude supplies by around 600,000 barrels per day, according to analysts and media reports citing official statements. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of crude oil and any supply shock from this vital oil producer can provide sharp short-term support to prices — despite hopes of a ceasefire earlier this week lifting crude to fresh yearly highs before rolling over into profit-booking.

Gold Prices Surge as Iran-US Ceasefire Deal Faces Test

Gold prices rebounded sharply in India on Friday morning on concerns that Iran and the US may fail to agree on a long-term ceasefire that would end tensions across the Middle East. National-level gold prices had been rallying throughout Thursday but trended sideways into profit booking before opening sharply higher today.