Mumbai, July 2: Stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended nearly one per cent higher on Thursday amid softening crude oil prices, following positive developments on the geopolitical front and buying in blue-chip IT stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 579.48 points, or 0.75 per cent, to end at 77,502.12. During the day, it surged 656.29 points, or 0.85 per cent, to 77,578.93.
The 50-share NSE Nifty rallied 169.85 points, or 0.71 per cent, to settle at 24,175.70.
From the Sensex pack, Infosys jumped 5.64 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra (4.32 per cent), Tata Consultancy Services (4.28 per cent) and HCL Tech (4.12 per cent). Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, Titan and ICICI Bank were also among the major gainers.
Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries were among the laggards.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dropped 1.45 per cent to USD 70.53 per barrel.
India and Japan on Thursday unveiled a raft of landmark initiatives, including an economic partnership framework and defence pact to co-develop military hardware, following summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi.
The major outcomes from the meeting included a declaration on economic security, a joint statement for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence and a document to bolster engagement in the energy supply chain.
World shares were mixed Thursday as benchmarks in Japan and South Korea slumped in the latest bout of heavy selling of computer chip stocks.
Oil prices fell after negotiators from the US and Iran met separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan on Wednesday, as traders eyed developments in talks on achieving a permanent end to the war in Iran.
In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5 per cent to 10,530.26. France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.7 per cent to 8,393.60, while Germany’s DAX climbed 0.5 per cent to 25,160.50.
In Asia, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index sank 7.9 per cent to 7,648.09 with chip-related shares trading lower. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix lost 14.6 per cent and Samsung Electronics tumbled 9.1 per cent.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.5 per cent to 68,733.15. Shares of chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron shed 7.4 per cent.
Taiwan’s Taiex declined 0.6 per cent as chipmaking giant TSMC, or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., fell 1.6 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.8 per cent higher at 23,055.03. Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD’s shares rose 8.1 per cent after it reported its sales rose for a second straight month. The Shanghai Composite index fell 2 per cent to 4,028.90.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged less than 0.1 per cent higher to 8,724.50.
Surging demand for artificial intelligence has pushed many AI and tech stocks higher in recent months, with markets in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan reaping big gains. So far this year, the Kospi and Nikkei 225 have gained about 77 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively.
However, concerns over a potential glut in supply given the massive investments made by Big Tech companies in the US and elsewhere have been clouding investor sentiment.
On Wednesday, chip stocks in the US mostly fell. Micron Technology gave up 10.6 per cent, Intel sank 9 per cent, AMD, or Advanced Micro Devices, dropped 6.9 per cent, Broadcom lost 2.2 per cent and Nvidia slipped 1.3 per cent.
The S&P 500, Wall Street’s benchmark, fell 0.2 per cent to 7,483.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 52,305.24, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 0.7 per cent to 26,040.03.Sectorally, IT surged 4.37 per cent, Focused IT (4.29 per cent), Consumer Durables (1.45 per cent), Realty (1.43 per cent), Auto (1.33 per cent), Consumer Discretionary (1.11 per cent) and Commodities (1.06 per cent).
Industrials, Telecommunication, Capital Goods and Power were the laggards. The BSE MidCap Select index jumped 0.94 per cent and the SmallCap Select index climbed 0.68 per cent.
A total of 2,536 stocks advanced, while 1,740 declined and 182 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,140.50 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Oil prices fell early Thursday, trading at levels below where they were before the Iran war began in late February. Hopes have risen that crude supplies will improve markedly with the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that’s key for the world’s oil transport, even though the number of ships crossing the strait is still limited.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.9 per cent to USD 70.93 per barrel, lower than the roughly USD 72 a barrel before the start of the war. Benchmark US crude fell 0.8 per cent to USD 68.03 per barrel.
In other dealings, the US dollar was trading at 161.10 Japanese yen, down from 162.58 yen, after the yen fell to a four-decade low against the dollar on Wednesday. The euro was trading at USD 1.1417, up from USD 1.1377. (Agencies)
