Sensex soars by 1,800 points: What is driving this rally?
The BSE Sensex has soared 1,792 points today to trade at 78,948, at the time of writing. The NSE Nifty also jumped 531 points to hover around 23,880. The market rally was mainly fueled by a revival in financial stocks and strong US labor market data. Further, increased buying activity from domestic institutional investors and positive trends in US markets helped domestic equities recover.
Top gainers and sectoral performers in the market rally
The market rally was spearheaded by a number of companies from the 30-share Sensex pack. These were Reliance Industries, State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and Tech Mahindra. Major sectoral gainers were Nifty IT, Banks, Oil and Gas and Realty. Notably, Nifty PSU Bank also witnessed a sharp recovery of 2.47% on Friday after a massive drop of nearly 5% a day before.
SBI recovers from previous day's losses
India's largest private sector lender, SBI, witnessed a massive fall of over 5% on Thursday. However, it recovered most of its losses and traded higher by 3.29% on Friday. This recovery contributed significantly to the overall market rally. The Nifty IT index also surged nearly 2% on the back of strong labor market data from the US, showing a rebound in US job growth for November after last month's slowdown.
Adani stocks recover after major losses
Shares of Adani group companies also witnessed a recovery on Friday after taking a massive beating in Thursday's trade. This was after US prosecutors charged billionaire Gautam Adani for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay ₹2,200 crore bribe to Indian officials in return for favorable terms for solar power contracts. Despite the setback, Adani Enterprises trimmed its initial 7% loss and traded at ₹2,283.45, up by 4.5%.
Global markets bolster domestic equities
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped nearly 1% to 38,415.32, supported by a slowdown in the nation's inflation rate. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to close at 5,948.71 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a strong gain of 1.1% to settle at 43,870.35 and Nasdaq Composite edged up marginally by less than 0.1% to 18,972.42. These positive global trends supported domestic equities during Friday's trading session in India.
