ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC contributed the most to the gain in Sensex Domestic stock markets registered strong gains on Thursday mirroring strength in Asian peers as the US and Iran backed away from the brink of further conflict escalation in the Middle East.
The S-P BSE Sensex index climbed up as much as 664.38 points to touch 41,482.12 on the upside during the session and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark moved to as high as 12,224.05, up 198.7 points from the previous close, before giving up some of those gains by the end of the session.
Buying across sectors barring information technology shares - led by financial, auto, energy and infrastructure shares - pushed the markets higher.
The Sensex ended 634.61 points - or 1.55 per cent - higher at 41,452.35, while the Niftysettled at 12,215.90 - up 190.55 points - or 1.58 per cent - from its previous close.Forty three stocks on the 50-scrip index finished the session with gains.Top percentage gainers on the Nifty 50 benchmark index were JSW Steel, Bharti Infratel, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank, ending between 3.37 per cent and 5.90 per cent higher.On the other hand, TCS, Coal India, HCL Tech, Britannia and GAIL - settling between 0.36 per cent and 1.56 per cent lower - were among the top Nifty losers.Market breadth was sharply positive, with1,819 shares ending higher on the BSE against 751 closing lower.
On the NSE, 1,337 stocks rose whereas 464 dropped.ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC contributed the most to the gain in Sensex, together accounting for a more than 300-point gain in the index.The NSE's India VIX index - which gauges the markets' expectation of volatility in the near term - ended 10.16 per cent lower, after plummeting as much as 16.91 per cent during the session.Equities in other Asian markets rebounded with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 1 per cent, reversing Wednesday's losses.Japan's Nikkei rose 1.8 per cent, lifting stocks to their highest for the year so far.US President Donald Trump responded overnight to an Iranian attack on US forces with sanctions, not violence.
Iran offered no immediate signal it would retaliate further over a January 3 US strike that killed one of its senior military commanders.Crude oil prices returned to the levels seen before the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani by the US last week.
Brent futures - the global benchmark for crude oil - prices crept up from month lows hit overnight to $65.84 per barrel, about where they began the year.Meanwhile, the government lifted restrictions on the use of coal mined domestically and eased bidding rules from March, as India aims to attract foreign mining companies and reduce imports of the fossil fuel.The country plans to introduce global tenders for coal mining blocks in March, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said after Cabinet approved the plans, a move that could end state-run Coal India's near-monopoly of the fuel.