Sensex Surges 775 pts During Midday on Positive Global Cues 

Mumbai, May 14: Indian equity markets were firmly in the green at midday on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex trading at 75,384.06 — up 775.08 points or 1.04% from Wednesday’s close — while the Nifty 50 quoted at 23,675.00, gaining 262.40 points or 1.12%, as of 12:39 pm. The gains were broad-based and sustained, with no sign of the midday fatigue that often trims morning advances, as heavyweights from banking, pharma, metals and telecom held their ground through the session. The India VIX, the market’s fear gauge, slid 2.56% to 18.93, signalling that near-term anxiety is ebbing, while domestic institutional investors added to positions and foreign portfolio investors appeared to turn net buyers after several sessions of selling.

The session had started on an equally firm footing. The BSE Sensex opened with a gain of 397.73 points or 0.53% at 75,006.71, while the Nifty 50 climbed 156.20 points or 0.67% to 23,568.80 at 9:18 am — and what followed was not a spike that faded but a steady, staircase-like build that nearly doubled the opening point gain by midday. The morning advance built on Wednesday’s recovery that had snapped a bruising four-session losing streak, and the buying was decisively broad, spanning pharma, metal, oil-linked and infrastructure counters from the first minutes of trade. Investors drew comfort from improving global sentiment ahead of the high-stakes Trump-Xi summit, with markets pricing in the possibility that the bilateral meeting could unlock diplomatic momentum on the Iran front and ease the geopolitical premium that had weighed on sentiment through the week.

Investor optimism has been stoked by the prospect of a potential diplomatic breakthrough as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sit down for a high-stakes bilateral summit today.

Adding to the positive undertone is the government’s proactive stance on protecting India’s foreign exchange reserves, which have come under pressure as war-driven commodity imports — particularly oil and precious metals — have widened the trade deficit sharply. The Centre’s move to raise import tariffs on gold and silver to 15% from 6% is being viewed by the market as a decisive step to curb discretionary import demand, reduce dollar outflows and provide structural support to the rupee, which has been among Asia’s worst performers this year. Investors are treating these measures as a sign that policymakers are alert to the macro risks and willing to act, and the resulting rupee stabilisation — even if partial — is being read as a positive for corporate earnings visibility across import-sensitive sectors.

Gainers

Adani Enterprises led the Nifty gainers board emphatically, with its last traded price surging to ₹2,686.30 from Wednesday’s close of ₹2,498.00, a gain of 7.54%, as the conglomerate’s infrastructure and energy assets drew strong buying interest in the war-driven commodity upcycle. Cipla followed with a remarkable 6.41% rise to ₹1,412.70 from ₹1,327.60, with volumes of over 53 lakh shares pointing to aggressive institutional accumulation in the pharma major. Bharti Airtel added 3.20%, with its LTP at ₹1,846.50 against a previous close of ₹1,789.20, buoyed by strong Q4 earnings declared the previous evening. HDFC Bank gained 2.71%, trading at ₹769.95 versus a prior close of ₹749.60, leading the private banking rally, while Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories rounded out the top five at ₹1,298.90, up 2.66% from ₹1,265.30, continuing the broader pharma sector outperformance.

Losers

The IT sector bore the brunt of Thursday’s selling, with HCL Technologies the sharpest decliner, falling 3.25% to an LTP of ₹1,106.00 from a previous close of ₹1,143.20, as fears over discretionary tech spending in a war-affected global economy continued to weigh on the sector. Tech Mahindra slid 3.19% to ₹1,331.20 from ₹1,375.00, while Infosys dropped 2.72% to ₹1,092.60 from ₹1,123.10 on volume of over 67 lakh shares, reflecting continued foreign institutional selling in large-cap IT names. TCS declined 2.45% to ₹2,217.20 from a previous close of ₹2,272.80, making it four IT majors in the red simultaneously, as the sector’s sensitivity to global growth slowdown and US corporate capex freezes came into sharp focus. Nestle India was the lone non-IT name in the losers tally, easing a modest 0.47% to ₹1,462.00 from ₹1,468.90, reflecting some profit-taking after recent defensive buying.

Broad Markets

Among the broader market indices, Nifty Financial Services led Thursday’s advance with a gain of 1.49%, followed closely by Nifty Bank which rose 1.47%, and Nifty 100 which added 1.11% — reflecting the dominance of large-cap financial and banking names in driving the day’s rally, even as mid- and small-cap indices trailed with more modest advances. On the sectoral front, Nifty Pharma was the top performer, surging 2.05% as global supply chain concerns boosted Indian generic exporters, followed by Nifty Healthcare Index at +1.99% and Nifty Metal at +1.93%, with Nifty Financial Services 25/50 rounding out the top four sectoral movers at +1.47%. Nifty IT remained the sole major sectoral laggard, plunging 2.75% as large-cap technology stocks bore the brunt of earnings anxiety and global tech sector de-rating.

Middle East Conflict

The Iran war remains the central variable shaping global market sentiment, with the ceasefire declared by US President Donald Trump described as increasingly fragile and the Strait of Hormuz closure continuing to crimp oil flows and roil commodity markets. Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping today is being closely watched for any signal that China — the largest purchaser of Iranian crude and a key supplier of dual-use goods to Tehran — might use its leverage to steer Iran back toward a negotiated settlement, though analysts caution that Beijing’s competing strategic interests make meaningful concessions unlikely. Markets are pricing in a wide range of outcomes from the summit, keeping volatility elevated even as today’s equity gains suggest that investors are, for now, leaning toward cautious optimism.

Oil Prices

Oil prices nudged higher on Thursday as traders balanced war-related supply risk against hopes that the Trump-Xi summit might yield some diplomatic progress on the Iran front, with Brent crude futures edging up 13 cents or 0.12% to $105.76 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate futures added 12 cents or 0.12% to $101.14. Both benchmarks had fallen on Wednesday — Brent by more than $2 a barrel and WTI by more than $1 — as concerns over possible US interest rate hikes outweighed supply-side anxiety, making Thursday’s marginal uptick more of a consolidation than a directional move. For Indian markets, elevated oil prices above the $100 mark remain a structural headwind, widening the import bill, pressuring the current account deficit and adding to the very forex reserve strain the government is seeking to address through import tariff hikes.

Asian Markets

Asian equities presented a split picture on Thursday morning, with the Hang Seng Index leading regional gainers, adding 0.62% to 26,551.46 as Chinese stocks drew support from pre-summit optimism around the Trump-Xi meeting, while the Nikkei 225 rose 0.28% to 63,448.87 on yen weakness and improving export sentiment. The JSX Composite in Indonesia was the region’s worst performer, tumbling 1.98% to 6,723.32, while the KSE 100 in Pakistan fell 0.87% to 1,67,451.14 and the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.66% to 4,214.76 as domestic consumption concerns weighed. Malaysia’s KLCI eased 0.28% and Australia’s ASX All Ordinaries dipped 0.13%, while Vietnam’s HNX 30 index held flat with a marginal 0.02% gain, reflecting the cautious mood that has gripped most emerging Asian markets amid the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty.

Source: https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-market-indices

https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/top-gainers-losers

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