Festive cheer on D-Street: Sensex rallies for 5th day on foreign fund inflows, easing crude oil prices

MUMBAI: Stock markets rallied for the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex climbing by nearly 384 points to close above the 77,000 mark on buying in blue-chip financial, FMCG and auto shares amid foreign fund inflows and easing crude oil prices.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 383.55 points, or 0.50 per cent, to settle at 77,301.40, its highest close in more than two months. During the day, it surged 478.19 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 77,396.04. In the five-day rally through Wednesday, Sensex soared by over 4,000 points or 5.4 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 149.75 points, or 0.63 per cent, to end at 23,960.60.

In the 30 Sensex firms, Bharat Electronics, Titan, InterGlobe Aviation, Bajaj Finance, ITC and Adani Ports were the biggest winners.

Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech, Infosys and Eternal were among the laggards.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.73 per cent to USD 102.8 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 6,836.81 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

In a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump, American voters on Tuesday gave the opposition Democratic Party control of the US Congress and flipped key gubernatorial posts in widely watched elections that will have consequences far beyond America.

Trump's Republican Party faced stunning defeats in its strongholds such as Texas, Georgia and Iowa, where it lost the governors' posts to the Democrats. The Grand Old Party also faced a drubbing in Senate races in Texas, Maine, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa – where Trump campaigned with a simple message urging voters to pretend that he was on the ballot.

The widespread losses were attributed to anger against Trump's policies, including the war on Iran, which led to increased cost of living and high diesel prices.

"Diwali fireworks continued on Dalal Street, with mid and smallcaps extending their outperformance as risk appetite strengthened. The US midterm outcome improved global sentiment, raising expectations of a more measured approach to trade and tariff policies and potentially supporting FII flows into emerging markets.

"Domestically, optimism around possible tax relief maybe in the upcoming Union Budget, better-than-expected quarterly earnings and resilient festive consumption added momentum to the rally," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended lower, while South Korea's Kospi, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled higher. Markets in Europe were trading in positive territory.

The US equity markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Sensex jumped 1,225.07 points, or 1.62 per cent, to settle at the day's high of 76,917.85. The Nifty rallied 370.05 points, or 1.58 per cent, to end at the day's high of 23,810.85.