Sensex, Nifty Surge on Foreign Fund Inflows

Mumbai, May 5 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged in early trade on Monday amid sustained foreign fund inflows, a sharp drop in crude oil prices and firm trends in the US markets.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge climbed 386.95 points to 80,888.94 in early trade. The NSE Nifty surged 114.05 points to 24,460.75.

From the Sensex firms, Adani Ports, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, HCL Tech, Titan and Tata Motors were among the major gainers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked nearly 6 per cent after the firm reported a 7.57 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,933 crore for the March quarter of FY25, primarily due to elevated stress in the microlending book.

From the 30-share pack, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, and Nestle were also the laggards.

State Bank of India dipped nearly 2 per cent after it reported an 8.34 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 19,600 crore for the January-March quarter compared to Rs 21,384 crore a year ago, impacted by a decline in net interest margins.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,769.81 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors have injected Rs 4,223 crore in the country's equity market in April as they turned net buyers for the first time in three months amid a blend of favourable global cues and robust domestic fundamentals.

The inflow of foreign capital came last month following a back-to-back net outflow of Rs 3,973 crore in March, Rs 34,574 crore in February, and Rs 78,027 crore in January.

"The reversal in FII strategy in India from selling to buying continued for the week ending 2nd May. During the last 12 trading days FIIs have been sustained buyers in the cash market. This is a major pivot in FII strategy. And this will impart resilience to the market. The concern now is India's retaliatory action to the terrorist strike and its fall out," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

The steep decline in the dollar index from 111 on 11th January to 99 recently continues to be a strong tailwind for the market, he added.

In Asian market, South Korea's Kospi index traded higher. Markets in Japan, China and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.

US markets ended significantly higher on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dropped 3.65 per cent to USD 59.05 a barrel.

"The positive sentiment is further supported by continued buying from FIIs, a drop in crude oil prices to a one-month low below USD 60 per barrel, and better-than-expected US job data. China, Hong Kong and Japan market are shut today," Vikas Jain, Head of Research at Reliance Securities, said.

The 30-share BSE benchmark gauge settled 259.75 points, or 0.32 per cent, higher at 80,501.99 on Friday. The Nifty eked out a marginal gain of 12.50 points, or 0.05 per cent, to settle at 24,346.70.