Indian equity benchmarks showed gains in early trading on Thursday, despite renewed geopolitical tensions and crude oil prices rebounding to $80 a barrel. The Sensex surged by 0.32%, reaching an intraday high of 76,752 points, while the Nifty climbed 0.20% to 23,928.95 points. Notably, Nifty Consumer Durables led the gains, followed by sectors like Nifty Mid-Small Financial Services, Nifty Cement, and others.
Nifty IT, however, experienced a decline of over 1%, emerging as the top sectoral loser. Among Nifty constituents, companies like Infosys, HCLTech, and TCS saw a decrease between 1% and 2%. Market experts attributed the investor sentiment’s decline to geopolitical tensions, especially after US President Donald Trump’s comments on Iran.
Geopolitical concerns have led to selling pressure in the market, with Brent crude hovering around $80 a barrel. Despite this, experts believe that stable oil prices and continued foreign institutional investor (FII) buying could support large-cap stocks, particularly in the financial and automobile sectors. Trump mentioned fresh strikes against Iran, emphasizing a tough stance, which impacted oil prices globally.
