MUMBAI: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who have been net sellers to the tune of over $10 billion since the beginning of the calendar year, were net buyers of Rs 12,594.38 crore on Thursday – the highest since September 20 last year.
This renewed interest propelled the benchmark indices, which rose over 1% on Thursday, marking their third consecutive session of gains amid mixed global cues and strong buying in metals, oil & gas, and banking shares.
India’s equity indices were the second-best performers in Asia, after Japan (up 1.65%).
The Sensex jumped 1,000.36 points, or 1.21%, to close at 83,755.87, while the Nifty surged 304.25 points, or 1.21%, to end at 25,549 on the monthly futures and options (F&O) expiry day. Bank Nifty hit an all-time closing high of 57,206.70, gaining 1.03%.
Market experts ascribed several reasons to this rally gaining traction. Ambareesh Baliga, market analyst, said, “The fear of missing out (FOMO) after the Nifty 50 index crossed the important resistance level of 25,500 saw buying by high networth individuals (HNIs) on Thursday. These investors and traders had sold during the Indo-Pak conflict, and despite Operation Sindoor, when our markets rallied, these players couldn’t participate, and today their entry helped the market move higher.”
He added that in the last two days, short-covering by traders helped the market scale higher, and today HNIs added to the upward movement.
Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research, Kotak Securities, believes that this rally has more legs. “Post-breakout, the positive momentum intensified. On daily charts, it has formed a long bullish candle, which supports further upside from current levels,” he said.
A CEO of a foreign brokerage said, “This is a liquidity-based rally. Domestic mutual funds are sitting on `2 lakh crore of cash, and with equity being the stable asset class in the current environment compared to other asset class, money is flowing into our market. While everyone is waiting for corporate performance to jump-start, which is a cause of concern, other factors like a stable government, crude oil prices, and inflation are aiding the flows into the market.”
Overall, FPIs bought shares worth Rs 12,594.38 crore and DIIs sold shares worth Rs 195.23 crore, as per provisional data by the BSE.
With fears about Brent crude going down, investor sentiment got further boost. Brent crude prices traded flat at $67.70 per barrel.
Market breadth was neutral, with 2,097 gainers versus 1,900 losers on the BSE. On Thursday, investors’ wealth rose by Rs 3.51 lakh crore to Rs 457.52 lakh crore. Over the past five sessions, total market capitalisation has surged by Rs 14.7 lakh crore.
Extending their uptrend for the fifth consecutive session, the broader BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.56% and 0.12%, respectively.
Metal, oil & gas, energy, financials, and banking were the top sectoral gainers, rising up to 2.28%. On the contrary, realty (down 1.04%) and IT (down 0.14%) were the top laggards. Realty stocks came under pressure as housing sales across India’s top seven cities declined 20% year-on-year in the April-June 2025 quarter, according to data from Anarock Research.
Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, and Eternal were the top Sensex gainers, advancing up to 2.62%. HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and Bharti Airtel together contributed over half (54.55%) of the Sensex’s 1,000-point rally.
Four Nifty constituents — Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, HDFC Life, and Grasim— hit record highs during the session.
Source: The Financial Express
