Indian equity benchmarks Sensex climbed 366.90 points to 77,295.52 and Nifty rose 77.60 points to 24,168.55 in early trade on Friday, ending a two-day losing streak. According to latest provisional closing data, Sensex advanced 330.92 points or 0.43% to 77,264.51 and Nifty 50 index gained 84.80 points or 0.35% to 24,175.65. This recovery came after the Sensex dropped 539.35 points, or 0.70%, to settle at the day's low of 76,933.59 on Thursday, while Nifty declined 116.90 points, or 0.48%, to end at the day's low of 24,090.85. The broader markets also opened in the green, with BSE 150 MidCap Index rising 0.16% and BSE 250 SmallCap Index adding 0.33%. Market breadth remained positive with 2,385 shares advancing, 1,932 shares declining and 248 shares remaining unchanged on the BSE, as reported by Business Standard. Investors remained cautious ahead of US Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's maiden Jackson Hole keynote, with elevated crude prices, US bond yields and Fed policy uncertainty continuing to influence sentiment.
IT shares witnessed value buying after declining in the past two consecutive trading sessions, with the Nifty IT index jumping 3.51% to 31,281.70. Coforge emerged as the top gainer, rising 5.93%, followed by LTIMindtree up 4.73%, TCS advancing 4.16%, Persistent Systems gaining 3.91%, and Tech Mahindra up 3.53%. Infosys rose 2.99%, Wipro gained 2.58% after announcing expansion of its partnership with Google Cloud, Oracle Financial Services Software advanced 2.83%, HCL Technologies advanced 2.66%, and Mphasis climbed 1.72%. Among other IT majors, Tejas Networks jumped 7.63% and Tata Consultancy Services gained 4.09% after Tejas Networks received a Letter of Intent from TCS for the supply of RAN equipment, accessories and installation materials for BSNL's 4G mobile network covering 18,685 sites, valued at ₹1,537 crore. The IT sector's strong performance was driven by stronger global technology sentiment following Nvidia's second-quarter revenue surging 106% year-on-year and beating analyst expectations, lifting semiconductor and AI-linked technology shares globally. The Nasdaq Composite closed 1.57% higher overnight, providing positive momentum for Indian IT stocks. In the latest session, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Technologies were the biggest Nifty gainers, while Asian Paints, Shriram Finance, ITC, ICICI Bank and UltraTech Cement were among the losers.
Foreign portfolio investors have shown renewed interest in Indian markets after a prolonged selling streak. Foreign investors turned net buyers in July and have continued buying in August, reversing their trend after four consecutive months of selling. According to The Economic Times, Foreign portfolio investors net sold shares worth ₹5,039.80 crore on Friday, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹5,183.93 crore. This shift in foreign investor sentiment has provided crucial support to the market recovery. Arihant Bardia, CIO and founder of Valtrust, noted that "if the recent improvement in FPI flows sustains, we could see a meaningful rerating of select large caps, particularly private banks." The improved foreign investor sentiment comes as August saw the culmination of the June quarter results by the middle of the month, and the results were well accepted by the markets as the positive surprises far outpaced the negatives, according to Dinshaw Irani, MD & CEO at Helios India. He expects earnings growth of the mid- and small-cap universe to maintain outperformance vis-a-vis largecaps.
Brent crude for October 2026 settlement declined 27 cents or 0.30% to $89.43 per barrel, providing some relief to market sentiment. According to latest reports, US markets ended lower on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh reiterated the central bank's commitment to bringing inflation back to its 2% target, prompting investors to reassess expectations of a September rate move. The S&P 500 fell 19.94 points, or 0.26%, to 7,711.05, while the Nasdaq Composite declined 140.79 points, or 0.53%, to 26,400.56. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 11.06 points, or 0.02%, to 53,558.38. Nvidia surged 8.7% after its strong results and forecast reinforced expectations of sustained demand for AI infrastructure, while Salesforce jumped 22.6% and CrowdStrike gained 20.5%. European shares rose on Friday, with the STOXX 600 gaining 0.5% to 655.16 and France's CAC 40 climbing about 1%, as investors assessed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's Jackson Hole speech. Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, noted that "global cues are more supportive than they have been at any point this week. US markets closed firmly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.20 per cent, the S&P 500 rising 0.72 per cent and the Nasdaq advancing 1.57 per cent." In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi traded lower, while Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index quoted higher. The market extended its losses for the third consecutive week, with the BSE Sensex and Nifty50 declining 0.3% each during the week, though the Nifty managed to close above 24,150 in the latest session.
As reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, Shrikant Chouhan from Kotak Securities noted that "if the market manages to trade above the 24,000/76,800 support zone, we can expect a technical bounce back... above this level, it could bounce back to 24,200–24,250/77,300–77,500." V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, emphasized that "total lack of clarity on the Strait of Hormuz issue is weighing on the market... a breakout above the range will happen only if some of the Nifty heavyweights like HDFC Bank, RIL, L&T and the IT majors participate in the rally." Attention now turns to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's first Jackson Hole keynote, the week's most closely watched macro event. Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research, Wealth Management, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, noted that "Indian equities are expected to trade in a broader range amid a lacklustre environment, mixed global cues and persistent geopolitical tensions, despite Brent crude cooling to $88 per barrel, down around 8% over the past nine days." Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Investments, noted that hopes are on the 24,060 region arresting further slippages, allowing bargain hunting that could set a base for a rise. In the latest session, buying in IT, metal and pharma stocks helped the benchmarks remain in positive territory at the close, despite some profit booking during the mid-session that pared gains. Among the 30 Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, and State Bank of India were the laggards. The yield on India's 10-year benchmark federal paper jumped 0.35% to 6.916 compared with the previous session close of 6.851, while the rupee edged higher against the dollar, hovering at 95.4075 compared with its close of 95.4400 during the previous trading session. India VIX fell 3.70% to 10.66 after rising 5% in the previous session, pointing to easing near-term uncertainty.
