Sensex jumps over 600 pts after US-Iran tensions ease; how Trump helped share market to rebound

The benchmark equity indices bounced back after the US-Iran tensions appeared to ease, with Sensex and Nifty posting the biggest single-day gains in three months. The 30-share BSE index rose 634.61 points, or 1.55 per cent, to end at 41,452.35. Similarly, the broader Nifty jumped 190.55 points, or 1.58 per cent, to 12,215.90. ICICI Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by SBI, M&M, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints and RIL. TCS, HCL Tech, NTPC, and Sun Pharma were the top laggards. Except IT, all sectoral indices closed in the green. Realty was the top gainer among all the indices. The market breadth favoured advances and the advance-decline ratio was at 3:1. The volatility index closed with a cut of over 10 per cent in the trade.

“Markets are on a roller coaster ride and there’s no clarity over the trend. Needless to say, Nifty has a strong hurdle at 12,300-12,400 zone and a decisive breakout can only change the prevailing bias else consolidation would continue. We advise keeping limited positions in such a scenario and preferring index majors over the others as they tend to witness less volatility,” Ajit Mishra, VP, Research, Religare Broking said.

“Markets are in a phase of a relief rally as the Iran US tensions seem to have moderated for how. However the extreme volatility seen over the last 10 days along with high valuations make the near term outlook uncertain. Markets need to give up some gains to come into the value zone for buying,” investment advisor, Sandip Sabharwal told Financial Express Online. Meanwhile, the brent crude oil futures rose 0.40 per cent to USD 65.70 per barrel. The rupee gained 26 paise to 71.43 per US dollar in the intra-day trade. The Asian markets also ended on a strong note.