The Sensex surged 965 points to close at 78,151, while the Nifty 50 climbed 262 points to settle at 24,334. The rally was largely driven by heavyweight stocks, even as the broader market remained under pressure, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices slipping up to 0.4%.
Tech Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, M&M, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and Infosys gained up to 4% to lead the Sensex rally. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Trent, Bharti Airtel and UltraTech Cement declined up to 1%.
India VIX, the market’s volatility gauge, rose around 3% to 13.24. Among sectoral indices, Nifty IT and Nifty Private Bank climbed about 2% each, while Nifty Pharma was the only major laggard, falling more than 1%.
The rally in Indian equities came despite a sharp sell-off across global markets. Japan’s Nikkei slumped about 5%, while Taiwan’s Weighted Index plunged 7% as the rout in chipmakers deepened. Rising oil prices amid the escalating Iran-US conflict further weighed on sentiment. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai Composite fell up to 3%, while South Korea’s Kospi remained shut for Constitution Day.
Jio Financial Services shares, meanwhile, were among the top gainers on Nifty, jumping 3% after the company reported a 155% year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 830 crore for the first quarter, compared with Rs 325 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Notably, shares of private lenders including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank rose up to 4% to emerge among the top gainers, ahead of their earnings announcement scheduled for Saturday.
Here are 4 key factors behind the market uptrend today
1) IT stocks rally
The sharp gains were led by IT stocks after Tech Mahindra’s better-than-expected Q1 earnings print boosted investor sentiment. The company on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,465 crore for the first quarter of the ongoing financial year 2027, marking a 28% year-on-year (YoY) rise from Rs 1,140.6 crore net profit reported in the year-ago period.
Nomura noted that Tech Mahindra delivered an all-round beat on estimates in Q1 FY27. The international brokerage, along with several others, now expect the company to exceed its large-cap peers on growth rates in FY27-28.
The sentiment was further boosted after heavyweight HCL Tech announced a new seven-year agreement with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), expanding their existing partnership to accelerate AI-led modernization across the insurer’s technology and operations.
2) Q1 earnings momentum
Reliance Industries (RIL) shares jumped over 2% to heavily contribute to the sharp uptrend in Sensex and Nifty. Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate will likely release its Q1 results for the ongoing financial year 2027 in the post-market hours of Friday. Analysts expect the company to report a steady performance, led by a recovery in its oil-to-chemicals business and continued growth in digital services, even as retail growth stays muted and oil and gas earnings decline.
Also read: How to trade Reliance Industries shares ahead of June quarter earnings?
Jio Financial Services shares, meanwhile, were the top gainers on Nifty, rallying 6% after the company reported a 155% year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 830 crore for the first quarter, compared with Rs 325 crore in the corresponding period last year.
Notably, the shares of private lenders including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank rose up to 2% to emerge among the top gainers, ahead of their earnings announcement scheduled for Saturday.
3) Rupee gains
Rupee gained 14 paise to 96.28 against the US dollar in early trade. “Market participants will continue to monitor crude oil, foreign fund flows, and geopolitical developments for further direction. Technically, the rupee faces immediate resistance near 96.00, with the near-term trading range seen between 96.00–96.60,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst of Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities.
4) Technical breakout
Successive days of lacklustre trades combined with a shrinking trading range, have brought about a triangular formation that points to a potential range breakout, said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments. He however cautioned that directional clarity is missing and there can be some volatility first, before directional bias sets in.
“Towards this end, we will continue to eye the 23940-24270 range, aiming for upswings as the starting bias,” the analyst said.
Why caution is warranted
VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investment, warned that the range-bound construct of the market is likely to continue. The overall weakness in rupee seen in the previous sessions has been weighing on the market this week, the analyst noted.
“FCNR B deposit mobilisation by commercial banks is running below expectations, impacted by the high bond yields in the US. This trend, contrary to expectations, has impacted the rupee, making it the worst-performing currency in Asia this week with a depreciation above 1%. This has again impacted FII flows, which had turned positive early this month. Yesterday FIIs sold equity for Rs 4206 crores, which might impact sentiments today,” he added.
The big results from RIL today after market hours, and the results of the private banking majors on Saturday can have an impact on the market next week, the analyst noted, adding that the private sector banks are expected to report good numbers.
(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
