Sensex, Nifty surge 1% as earnings, French vote sooths nerves
Indian shares surged 1% and the rupee gained against the dollar on modest earnings growth by domestic companies and tracking global markets, which were upbeat after liberal Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election.
Indian shares surged 1% and the rupee gained against the dollar on modest earnings growth by domestic companies and tracking global markets, which were upbeat after liberal Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election.
The 30-share benchmark Sensex closed 291 points higher, or 1%, at 29,655.84. The broader benchmark Nifty was up 1.1% at 9,217.95.
GAIL led the Sensex chart gaining 3.2% followed by Axis Bank and Larsen & Toubro 2.5% each and HDFC Bank 2.4%. Reliance gained 1.2% ahead of its Q4 results.
The outcome of French polls led to a mass unwinding of safe-haven trades in favour of riskier assets, although in India gains were tempered as investors awaited a slew of quarterly earnings reports, including that of Reliance Industries Ltd due later in the day.
“There’s a good chance in France for Macron to win, which is positive for global markets,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.
Macron will now face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a May 7 runoff, with opinion polls on Sunday predicting an easy win for him in the final clash.
Cement stocks were among the biggest gainers on the NSE index, following better-than-expected quarterly results by ACC Ltd on Friday. The Nifty realty index climbed as much as 3.9% to its highest since July 2014.
ACC gained as much as 7.5% and was the top gainer on the Nifty.
HDFC Bank Ltd rose as much as 2.8% to a record high after the country’s second-biggest lender by assets on Friday reported higher-than-expected profit for the March quarter.
But IT stocks fell on continued concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump’s order last week to a review the country’s visa program to encourage hiring Americans. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, and Wipro Ltd dropped more than 1% each.
Indian firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro are top beneficiaries of the H-1B visa programme, using it to send computer engineers to service clients in the U.S., their largest overseas market.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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