Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains for the second consecutive session on Tuesday, with Sensex climbing 400 points to 75,725 and Nifty 50 gaining 115 points to 23,765 during Tuesday's trading. According to The Economic Times, the rally was driven by cooling bond yields, a slight drop in oil prices, and persistent FII buying that boosted investor sentiment. The optimism was broad-based, with India VIX, which measures market volatility, declining more than 4% to 18.84 in early morning trading hours, signalling easing market volatility and improving investor sentiment. In the pre-open session around 9:02 AM, the Sensex had climbed 430.42 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 75,745.46, while the Nifty slipped 86.05 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 23,562.80, reflecting uneven early sentiment across sectors. However, by 11:25 IST, the indices had pared some gains with Sensex advancing 213.70 points or 0.28% to 75,533.38 and Nifty 50 adding 69.45 points or 0.29% to 23,719.40, as reported by Business Standard.
IT stocks emerged as the top performers, with Infosys, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, and TCS rising to 4%, as reported by The Economic Times. The Nifty IT index jumped 3% in early trading hours, making it the top-performing sector, while ITC, L&T, Bajaj Finance, and others followed with strong gains. Titan, Eternal, and Kotak Mahindra Bank emerged as the top losers, falling up to 0.7%. The sectoral performance showed Nifty Metal slipped into the red, while FMCG, Pharma, PSU Banks and Oil & Gas traded in positive territory, with Auto, Realty and Metal indices seeing mild weakness. Broader market participation was robust, with Nifty Midcap 100 gaining 0.5% and Nifty Smallcap 100 advancing 0.5%, indicating wider market participation across segments. Around 1,791 stocks advanced on NSE and 655 declined, while 90 remained unchanged.
Global markets found significant relief after US President Donald Trump said there was a 'very good chance' of reaching a nuclear agreement with Iran. As reported by The Economic Times, Trump also revealed that a planned US attack on Iran had been paused to allow negotiations to continue after Tehran reportedly submitted a fresh peace proposal to Washington. In his latest post, Trump said he has instructed the military that "we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large-scale assault of Iran, on a moment's notice, if an acceptable Deal is not reached." After Iran sent the US a new peace proposal, Trump said the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had requested that he hold off on the attack because "a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond. This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!." The comments helped cool fears of immediate escalation in the region, with Brent crude declining $1.75 or 1.56% to $110.35 per barrel for July 2026 settlement, as reported by Business Standard. Despite the fragile ceasefire, the vital Strait of Hormuz remains closed by Tehran, while the US continues to blockade Iranian ports.
The Nifty Realty Index rallied 1.99% to 766.95, marking a strong recovery after declining 2.36% in the past two consecutive trading sessions, according to Business Standard. Aditya Birla Real Estate surged 3.19%, Prestige Estates Projects gained 3.12%, Lodha Developers rose 3.06%, Godrej Properties advanced 2.99%, Anant Raj increased 2.2%, Sobha climbed 1.58%, DLF rose 1.36%, Phoenix Mills advanced 1.02%, Oberoi Realty gained 0.46%, and Brigade Enterprises rose 0.08%. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices, with the BSE 150 MidCap Index rising 0.99% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index jumping 1.25%, as reported by Business Standard. Market breadth was negative with 2,641 shares rising and 1,142 shares falling on BSE, while 227 shares remained unchanged.
Banking stocks showed a mixed trend in early trade, with State Bank of India and ICICI Bank trading marginally higher, while Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank remained under pressure. According to The Economic Times, the Nifty Bank index was largely flat at 53,561.25. The mixed performance reflects varying investor sentiment across different banking stocks, with some benefiting from the overall market optimism while others faced pressure from sector-specific factors. Bank Nifty mirrored the movement seen in Nifty, opening with a gap-down and slipping to an intraday low of 52,783 before staging a strong recovery to close at 53,537, down 0.32%. A closer look at the Relative Rotation Graph suggests that the PSU Bank index continues to remain in the lagging quadrant, indicating weak relative strength and momentum, while the Private Bank index has moved from the lagging quadrant into the improving quadrant, pointing towards a gradual improvement in momentum within the private banking space.
Oil marketing company (OMC) stocks are expected to remain in focus after petrol and diesel prices were increased again for the second time within a week. According to reports from The Economic Times, State-run fuel retailers raised petrol and diesel prices by around 90 paise per litre on Tuesday after ending a nearly four-year freeze on revisions. In Delhi, petrol prices rose to ₹98.64 per litre from ₹97.77, while diesel increased to ₹91.58 per litre from ₹90.67. The hike follows a ₹3-per-litre increase announced earlier this month amid surging global crude prices linked to the Iran conflict. In Mumbai, petrol prices climbed 91 paise to ₹107.59 per liter, while diesel rose 94 paise to ₹94.08 per liter. Kolkata recorded the sharpest increase with petrol prices surging 96 paise to ₹109.70 per liter and diesel advancing 94 paise to ₹96.07 per liter. In Chennai, petrol prices increased by 82 paise to ₹104.49 per litre, while diesel prices moved up 86 paise to ₹96.11 per litre.
Despite the renewed market optimism, some caution is warranted as the Indian rupee edged lower against the dollar, hovering at 96.2750 compared with its close of 96.2000 during the previous trading session, as reported by Business Standard. The rupee also touched an all-time intraday low of 96.3850 in early trade. India's high dependence on imported crude is worsening sentiment, with Brent crude staying elevated amid ongoing uncertainty around the US–Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz concerns. Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities, highlighted that the broader trend for the rupee remains weak, with technical support now seen near 96.55 and immediate resistance around 96.00–96.10. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments, cautioned that concerns surrounding growth, inflation and currency depreciation persist, advising investors to focus on sectors least impacted by potential headwinds, including pharmaceuticals, power-related stocks and defence stocks.
