Sensex ends near 4-month high, surges 465 points; Nifty reclaims 17,500

In a promising start to the holiday-truncated trading week, benchmark indices settled with decent gains as a fall in oil prices and buying in auto stocks boosted investor sentiment. Traders also continued to monitor corporate earnings while assessing the risk of recession in the US.

The 30-share pack Sensex advanced 465.14 points or 0.80 per cent to close at 58,853.07. Its broader peer, Nifty50, added 127.60 points or 0.73 per cent to close comfortably above the 17,500 mark. The benchmark has managed to close above 17,500 for the first time since April 12, 2022.

M&M was the top gainer from the 30-share pack, rising over 3 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, and L&T also rose around 2-3 per each.

Bucking the trend, SBI declined nearly 2 per cent, while UltraTech Cement, Nestle, Wipro, Nestle, Power Grid, Asian Paints and Sun Pharma ended with cuts. SpiceJet shares cracked 4 per cent after reports that IDFC First Bank, YES Bank and Indian Bank put their loans to the airline in the high-risk category.

"Sustained FII buying and falling oil prices are the major drivers for the ongoing market rally. Heavyweights played a significant role in today's rise, while PSU banks remained under pressure following weak results of the PSB major," said Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services.

Paytm jumped 6.5 per cent after the fintech giant reports loss below estimates. HFCL shares soared 10 per cent on collaboartion with Qualcomm.

Midcap and smallcap indices ended marginally higher.

The market breadth was slightly skewed in favour of bulls. About 1,941 stocks gained, 1,555 declined and 174 remained unchanged. Advance-decline ratio was at 1:1.

"The week ahead is busy in terms of economic data with the domestic investors gearing up for the release of the inflation numbers along with the manufacturing production data to gauge the strength of the economy," Nair added.

Among sectors, Nifty auto and bank advanced around 1 per cent, while Nifty IT and pharma ended flat.

Meanwhile, rupee resumed its decline versus the greenback on bets of larger interest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve and demand for dollars from importers.

The domestic currency closed down 0.54 per cent to 79.66 per US dollar, after a short-lived bump on Friday that saw the unit rise following a 50 basis point rate hike from the RBI.

In Asia, markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo ended higher, while Hong Kong settled with losses.

European bourses were trading in the green during mid-session deals. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 139 points or 0.4 per cent. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.5 per cent and 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.68 per cent to USD 94.32 per barrel.