Market Wrap, Jan 9: Sensex up 635 pts, Nifty over 12,200 on US-Iran truce

After a gap-up opening, Indian equities Thursday logged steady gains as investors cheered temporary de-escalation of a heated rhetoric between the United States and Iran. 

In response to Iran's missile attack, US President Donald Trump said the strikes had not harmed any US troops stationed there and that damage was minimal. Trump, however, announced fresh sanctions on Tehran but stopped short of any further military escalation. This slight cool-off gave global markets some space for a relief rally.

Financials contributed the most towards the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex's gains, pushing the index to close 634.61 points, or 1.55 per cent, higher at 41,452.35 level. ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, and M&M were the top performing stocks at the 30-share index, while TCS, HCL Tech, NTPC, and Sun Pharma were the top laggards.

On the NSE, the broader Nifty50 reclaimed the crucial 12,200-mark after three trading session and settled at 12,215.40, up 190.05  points or 1.58 per cent. All the sectoral indices ended the day in the positive territory, except Nifty IT index. Nifty PSB, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty, and NIfty Media indices were all up about 2.5 per cent. On the downside, Nifty IT index settled with 0.5 per cent cut.

BUZZING STOCKS

>> Shares of small-cap companies were in focus on Thursday with S&P BSE Smallcap index hitting a 6-month high on the back of strong rally in agri inputs, fertilizers, education, metals, textiles and real estate stocks. The index hit a high of 14,095 points, its highest level since July 8, 2019. At cose, the S&P BSE small-cap index was at 14,080.58, up 1.5 per cent.

>> Shares of real estate companies advanced at the bourses on Thursday, gaining up to 6 per cent on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), after the State Bank of India (SBI) launched a Residential Builder Finance with Buyer Guarantee scheme to safeguard home buyers financially. Sunteck Realty, Indiabulls Real Estate, DLF and Oberoi Realty were up more than 2 per cent each on the NSE in the intra-day trade today. At close, the Nifty Realty settled 2.73 per cent higher.

GLOBAL CUES

Asian stocks had their best session in weeks on Thursday, as the United States and Iran backed away from the brink of conflict in the Middle East and investors reversed their flight to safety.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.3 per cent, its sharpest gain in almost a month.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai blue chips each added more than 1 per cent, while Japanese stocks rose further, gaining 2 per cent to their highest for the year so far.

In Europe, the pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6 per cent to a record high of 420.98, while stocks in Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, gained 1.1 per cent.

In the commodities market, Brent Crude Futures were at $65.86 per barrel-mark, while WTI Crude was at $60 per barrel-mark by 3:00 pm.