he Indian stock market made a significant recovery on Monday, with benchmark indices posting robust gains despite ongoing geopolitical tensions.
The rally was primarily fueled by strong performance in select banking stocks and optimism surrounding a potential new trade deal between India and the U.S. The Sensex opened positively, starting at 79,344 with a gain of approximately 120 points, and continued to rise throughout the day, reaching a year-to-date high of 80,322 before closing at 80,218, marking an increase of 1,006 points, or 1.27%.
The Nifty index also experienced a favorable trend, fluctuating between 24,054 and 24,355, ultimately settling at 24,329, up by 289 points or 1.2%. Rupak De from LKP Securities noted that 24,360 is a key resistance level for the Nifty; a decisive breach above this level could propel the index toward 24,550, aligning with a significant Fibonacci retracement level.
Major banking stocks such as ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and SBI played a crucial role in this market uptrend, contributing approximately 340 points to the Sensex, which accounted for nearly 75% of the day’s total gains. Individual stocks like Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, and Tata Motors also recorded increases of 2-3% in their share prices.
Conversely, some stocks, including HCL Technologies, UltraTech Cement, and Hindustan Unilever, faced declines, with HCL Technologies dropping nearly 2%.
In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index rose by 1.4%, while the SmallCap index gained 0.4%. Sectoral indices performed well, with the BSE Oil and Gas index leading the gains at nearly 3%, while banking, capital goods, auto, metal, and healthcare sectors each rose by over 1.5%.
The Indian rupee strengthened to 84.98, up by 0.25, bolstered by a sharp increase in capital markets, where major indices rose by 1.20% and the banking index climbed by 1.41%.