Reliance fires up Dalal Street to over 1% rise

Mumbai: India's equity indices advanced more than 1% on Monday, led by a surge in Reliance Industries, after March quarter earnings at the country's biggest company by market value exceeded expectations.

The run-up helped the gauges recover from Friday's losses caused by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.

The NSE Nifty gained 1.2%, or 289.2 points, to finish at 24,328.5. The BSE Sensex moved 1.3%, or 1,005.8 points higher, at 80,218.4.

Reliance shares surged over 5% on Monday-the highest single-day gains since June 2024-to a market valuation of ₹18.5 lakh crore, from ₹17.6 lakh crore. "The bulk of today's advance was due to Reliance after its results," said Akshay Chinchalkar, head of research at Axis Securities. "The results were only a catalyst because the markets were primed for an upmove, after the fall and intraday rebound on Friday." Reliance accounts for a weighting of 8.12% on the free float-based Nifty 50.

Agencies

Global Cues

The conglomerate is next only to HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Technical indicators point to a further upside of around 3% on the Nifty, to as high as 25,000 in the near term, Chinchalkar of Axis Securities said.

In the past three weeks, the Sensex and Nifty have gained nearly 10% from the lows reached on April 7, as renewed foreign institutional purchases, as well as indications that US President Donald Trump could soften his stance on tariffs, contributed to the rebound. Expectations that India will be less affected by the tariffs have been instrumental in the resumption of foreign buying of late.

FPI Bets
On Monday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net ₹2,474 crore, taking their purchase tally to ₹35,163 crore in the last nine trading sessions, through which they remained net buyers. So far in April, they have purchased Indian stocks worth ₹859 crore. Their domestic counterparts bought shares worth ₹2,818 crore on Monday.

"While some volatility with foreign flows is likely around the time when the 90-day pause is lifted, until then, foreign flows are expected to move northward," said Chinchalkar.

The start-of-the-week bounce-back was reaffirmed by the Nifty holding above the 23,800-a crucial support level. "If Nifty breaches the 23,800 levels, then there could be a correction; however, it is more likely to move towards 25,000 levels in the near term," said Vikas Jain, head of research at Reliance Securities.

The broader market surged in line with the blue-chip but advances-to-declines across the market showed muted optimism. The Nifty Mid-cap 150 index and the Small-cap 250 index climbed 1.4% and 0.5%, respectively.

Of the 4,179 shares traded on the BSE, 1,914 advanced, while 2,091 declined. In the past week, the Mid-cap index advanced 0.5% and Small-cap index declined 0.9%. The Volatility Index (VIX)-the market's fear gauge- fell 1.3% to over 16.9 on Monday after jumping 5.6% in the previous trading session.

"The recovery from the gap area suggests that the markets are expected to lead higher and attempt to cross the peaks made in September (2024), although not in a straight line since global headlines will continue to dominate sentiment," said Chinchalkar. "Still, the benchmark Nifty (is expected) to make a new high by the end of this year."

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan and Indonesia gained 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively. Japan climbed 0.4% and South Korea advanced 0.1%. China and Hong Kong declined 0.2% and 0.04%, respectively.

At home, all sectoral indices closed higher except the IT Index. Bank Nifty rose 1.4%, while PSU Bank and Private Bank indices advanced 2.4% and 1.4%, respectively. The Nifty Pharma and Healthcare indices advanced around 2%, while the Auto index surged 1.6%.