Realty, Microcaps Lead Broad Rally; Markets Track Asia Gains on War De-escalation Hopes 

Mumbai, April 1: Shares tracked firm Asian cues and extended gains in early deals on Wednesday buoyed by improved risk sentiment amid broad strength led by realty and mid/small caps stocks after opening gap up. The Nifty Realty was the top performer among sectoral indices up 3.48% followed by strong buying in small caps as Nifty Microcap 250 raced up 2.66%. 

Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices also outperformed with gains of 2.14% and 2.52% respectively. Nifty 500 advanced 1.69% also portraying healthy buying across sectors and marketcaps. Both Nifty MidSmallcap 400 and Nifty Midcap 150 were up by more than 2%. 

India VIX, the fear gauge was down by 0.32% to 24.66 as volatility cooled down significantly after remaining at heightened levels over the past few days. Markets breadth shows clear signs of investors switching to risk-on mode with mid & small caps seeing strong accumulation today. 

Sectorally, Nifty Consumer Durables jumped 2.63% to become the second top gainer on Nifty followed by bank-ex financial services and mid-small financials which moved up by more than 2.5%. Metal stocks gained 2.23% while PSU Bank index and Private Bank index were up by 1.64% and 1.71% respectively showing signs of weakness in defensives. FMCG and pharma also posted marginal gains while oil & gas stocks saw little upside today. IT stocks were the only laggards outperforming the broader markets as Nifty IT dipped 0.49%. 

Asian markets provided strong cues as Japan’s Nikkei 225 spiked over 2.5% while Hong Kong, China and Southeast Asian markets jumped too. 

Markets were further boosted after US President Donald Trump said Washington could wind down its military campaign against Iran “very soon”, possibly within weeks if leaders in Tehran avoid war. This sharply raised hopes that tensions may ease in West Asia which sent equity markets rallying across Asia while boosting risk sentiment and stemming safe-haven demand.