Mumbai, May 12 — Indian equity markets posted one of their strongest single-day rallies in history on Monday, buoyed by the de-escalation of military tensions between India and Pakistan. Both the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty recorded gains of nearly four percent, driven by renewed investor optimism and supportive global cues.
As per agency report, the benchmark BSE Sensex surged by 2,975.43 points to close at a seven-month high of 82,429.90. During intraday trading, it briefly touched 82,495.97, up by 3,041.5 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty jumped by 916.70 points to settle at 24,924.70, after touching an intraday high of 24,944.80.
The rally followed news that India and Pakistan had agreed to halt all hostilities across land, air, and sea borders, significantly calming investor nerves after weeks of geopolitical tension. Additionally, positive developments from the global front contributed to market cheer, as the United States and China announced a mutual rollback of tariffs. The US agreed to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China lowered duties on US products from 125 percent to 10 percent.
Heavy buying in sectors such as information technology, real estate, metals, and technology helped drive the surge. Infosys led the gains among Sensex constituents with a rise of 7.91 percent, followed by strong performances from HCL Tech, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, NTPC, Reliance Industries, and Bajaj Finance. Only Sun Pharma and IndusInd Bank ended the session in the red.
This rally marked the most significant single-day gain since June 3, 2024, when the markets soared on the eve of general election results. The current spike was fueled by a combination of geopolitical clarity, optimism around economic stability, and expectations of continued foreign institutional investor (FII) participation.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, attributed the rise to a confluence of positive geopolitical and economic developments. Ajit Mishra of Religare Broking added that the US-China tariff truce further reinforced market sentiment as the session progressed.
The broader market mirrored the bullish trend, with the BSE smallcap index climbing 4.18 percent and the midcap index rising 3.85 percent. All sectoral indices ended higher, with the IT index up 6.75 percent, realty gaining 5.87 percent, metals rising 5.24 percent, and technology advancing 5.21 percent.
Of the 3,545 companies listed on the BSE, 3,545 ended in the green, while 576 declined and 133 remained unchanged. Other Asian markets also closed higher, with gains in South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, China’s Shanghai Composite, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. European markets were trading positively, while Wall Street ended last week on a mixed note.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil jumped 2.88 percent to trade at $65.75 per barrel, tracking global demand recovery.
Despite the bullish momentum, data showed that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs. 3,798.71 crore on Friday after several days of net buying. On the previous trading day, the Sensex had closed 880.34 points lower at 79,454.47 and the Nifty had dropped by 265.80 points to end at 24,008.
