Sensex jumped nearly 800 points to 77,527 while Nifty 50 rose over 230 points to 24,197, extending sharp gains for the second consecutive session. This came as India VIX, which measures volatility in the market, crashed another 9% to 12.71 on Friday morning.
The sharp gains added nearly Rs 5 lakh crore to the total market capitalisation of all companies listed on BSE, pulling it up to nearly Rs 481 lakh crore.
Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech shares were the top gainers on the Sensex, jumping 3-4%. IndiGo, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, M&M and SBI shares followed, rising more than 1% each. Bucking the trend, Sun Pharma shares fell around 1%.
Broader markets also extended sharp gains, with Nifty Smallcap 100 and Nifty Midcap 100 indices gaining up to 0.7% each. Sectorally, the Nifty IT index surged more than 3% to lead gains, while Nifty Metal followed, rising more than 1%. Nifty Pharma, however, declined around 1%, bucking the trend. The overall market breadth was positive, with NSE seeing 2,010 advances and 429 declines, while 97 stocks remained unchanged.
Here are the key factors boosting market sentiment today:
1) TCS kicks off Q1 earnings season on a strong note
The market gains were led by the IT stocks, which sharply surged after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday reported 5% year-on-year (YoY) growth in consolidated net profit at Rs 13,349 crore for the first quarter of the ongoing financial year 2027. The company’s consolidated net profit stood at Rs 12,760 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The firm’s revenue from operations meanwhile rose around 14% YoY to Rs 72,275 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 63,437 crore in the year-ago period. Its total contract value in Q1 FY27 stood at $9.5 billion.TCS earnings were more or less in line with estimates, with brokerages like Nuvama, Motilal Oswal Financial Services and others maintaining their ‘Buy’ rating and seeing up to 46% upside potential.
2) Positive global cues
The optimism on Dalal Street comes amid positive global cues. Asian markets recorded strong gains on Friday morning, with South Korea’s Kospi jumping around 5% to exit the bear market. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped around 2% each. China’s Shanghai Composite, meanwhile, gained nearly 1%.
Wall Street also recorded sharp gains on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq gaining more than 1% amid a sharp rebound in tech stocks. In Europe, France’s CAC and Germany’s DAX gained around 1% each, but the UK’s FTSE slipped into the red.
3) Markets shrug off escalating Iran-US tensions
Iranian armed forces launched attacks on US military infrastructure in Gulf states on Thursday following US strikes on Iran’s southern coastal and eastern provinces. Separately, Iranian media reported multiple explosions across southern Iran, including Bushehr, where one of the country’s nuclear plants is located. The latest escalations in the Iran-US conflict have raised worries over further closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that accounted for the shipment of 20% of daily global oil and gas supplies before the war. However, stock markets around the globe seem to ignore the simmering tensions in the Middle East. “Tensions in West Asia continue without any clarity of a resolution to the geopolitical crisis. However, interestingly, markets are largely ignoring these negative developments. This confident message from the market is significant. But investors have to be cautious, warranting monitoring of the developments,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.
4) Oil prices rise
Oil prices inched slightly higher today, but have sharply declined after nearing $80 per barrel earlier during the week following US President Donald Trump’s statement that the ceasefire between US and Iran was “over”. Brent crude futures were trading at around $76 per barrel and WTI Crude futures were trading near $72 per barrel on Friday morning.
Oil prices continue to remain significantly below the levels seen during the raging war earlier this year, when Brent crude prices had soared above $120 per barrel.
5) FII buying trend
Foreign investors remained net sellers of Indian equities on Thursday, net selling shares worth around Rs 533 crore, according to provisional data available on NSE. However, the overall trend shows FIIs turning bullish on Indian equities. They bought Indian shares worth more than Rs 8,280 crore during a six session streak between July 1 and July 8.
What lies ahead?From the domestic perspective, there are no major headwinds for the economy now, according to VK Vijayakumar from Geojit Investments. He added that stock markets will reflect this economic resilience and will respond positively to positive news from sectors and companies.
“Broadly, financials and automobiles will remain strong anticipating good Q1 numbers. Select pharmaceuticals and digital platform companies are exhibiting strength, indicating good Q1 numbers. In these segments there are buy on dips opportunities,” the analyst said.
Technical view on NiftyAnand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments, noted that the recovery swing unfolded yesterday on anticipated lines, after which investors can now look at an upswing till 24,200-24,229 or position for resumption of Wednesday’s declines.
“Upside plays can have downside marker at 24,040, but downside attempts, if any, are not expected to gain momentum, with 23,936-23,800 region appearing firm enough for now,” according to James.(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)
