Sensex Surges Over 750 points, Nifty Nears 23,650 As Market Rally Extends; FMCG, Banking Stocks Lead

Stock Market Today, November 3: The domestic equity markets extended their gains on Tuesday, building on Monday’s sharp rally, as sustained buying in heavyweight banking, FMCG and financial services stocks lifted investor sentiment. Easing crude oil prices, renewed foreign investor buying and optimism surrounding corporate earnings continued to support the market recovery.

At 10:22 am, the Sensex surged 768.70 points, or 1.02%, to trade at 76,461.48. The index had opened at 76,288.65. The Nifty advanced 200.60 points, or 0.86%, to trade at 23,641.40.

The gains follow Monday’s sharp rally, when the Sensex surged 1,233 points and the Nifty climbed 388 points, with Reliance Industries leading the advance after reporting strong September-quarter earnings.

Hopes of progress towards de-escalation in West Asia and a decline in global crude oil prices also helped ease concerns over India’s import bill and inflation outlook.

Foreign portfolio investors turned net buyers of Indian equities on Monday, providing an additional boost to sentiment. Investors are also tracking the ongoing September-quarter earnings season for signs of resilience in corporate profitability and domestic demand.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said she would listen to the concerns raised by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) over India’s capital gains tax structure and then “see what we can do”, amid a growing debate over demands for a cut in long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax.

Buying interest was visible across broader market segments on Tuesday, indicating that the rally was not restricted to frontline stocks.

The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.81%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.62%. The Nifty 500 advanced 0.85%, while the Nifty Next 50 climbed 0.92%. Among other indices, the Nifty Midcap Select gained 1.01%, while the Nifty Microcap 250 advanced 0.88%.

Sectoral indices traded predominantly higher, with the Nifty Cement index emerging as the top performer, gaining 1.90%.

The Nifty FMCG index advanced 1.80%, followed by Nifty Chemicals (1.61%), Nifty Financial Services Ex-Bank (1.59%), Nifty Realty (1.54%) and Nifty MidSmall Financial Services (1.54%).

The Nifty Financial Services 25/50 gained 1.46%, while the Nifty Private Bank index advanced 1.24%. The Nifty Auto index was also up 1.17%.

However, pharmaceutical and healthcare stocks remained under pressure. The Nifty Pharma index declined 0.60%, while the Nifty Healthcare index slipped 0.53%.

Among Sensex constituents, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, IndiGo, Asian Paints and UltraTech Cement were the biggest gainers.

HDFC Bank advanced 2.93%, while Hindustan Unilever gained 2.69%. IndiGo rose 2.42%, Asian Paints climbed 2.40% and UltraTech Cement advanced 2.12%. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel and Eternal were also trading higher.

On the other hand, NTPC, Sun Pharma, Power Grid, Reliance Industries and Trent were among the laggards.

Despite the sharp gains in benchmark indices, the India VIX rose 2.59% to 15.90, indicating that some uncertainty persists in the market.

The volatility gauge’s rise alongside the benchmarks suggests that investors remain cautious even as buying interest strengthens across sectors.

V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments, said, “Circumstances are ideal for the continuation of the ongoing  market rally. Decline in Brent crude to $104, further weakening of the AI trade, continuing flow of good Q2 results and FIIs turning buyers have potential to accelerate the ongoing rally. The 11.6% surge in a mega cap stock in one day is very rare. But this happened in RIL yesterday.  Huge delivery based buying of around Rs 6413 crores, supported by excellent Q2 results, triggered massive short covering in the stock. Massive value buying along with big short covering leads to such sharp surges in stocks, even in megacaps. The takeaway from this experience is that patient value buying will be rewarded. It is possible that there are short positions in many quality large-caps. These are short-positions created by bears on expectations of continued FII selling. The circumstances are changing.”

He added that while the AI trade has slightly weakened, it is important to understand that this is only a correction, not yet a crash. Results of many AI companies continue to be good. So watch out for the trends in this segment.

“Results of the US mid-term elections due tomorrow and its impact on geopolitical dynamics will be keenly watched by the market in the coming days,” Vijayakumar said.