Markets Rebound: Nifty, Sensex Closes In Green Amid Oil Jitters

Indian equity benchmarks ended in positive territory on Thursday, with the Nifty closing at 23,962.80, up 80 points or 0.34%, while the Sensex settled at 76,741.82, gaining 238 points or 0.31%.

The gains were driven by strength in broader sectoral indices — realty, FMCG, pharma, healthcare, and oil & gas all ended higher. IT and Auto were the top laggards, closing 0.30% and 0.21% lower, respectively.

Among Sensex constituents, Sun Pharma led the gainers with a 2.7% jump, followed by, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Trent, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, and BEL.

The shares of Eternal Limited, the parent company of food delivery platform Zomato and quick-commerce arm Blinkit rose 3% in Thursday's morning session on hopes of a favourable weight adjustment in MSCI's upcoming August review. Brokerage firm Motilal Oswal noted that Eternal could see its weight restored to full levels in the MSCI global standard index, a move that could unlock an estimated $520 million in passive foreign inflows.

This comes after Indian markets had tumbled more than 2% on Wednesday’s trading session as a result of US strikes conducted on Iran, coupled with President Donald Trump's comments declaring the ceasefire "over," stoked fears of extended turmoil in the Middle East.

The escalation pushed crude oil prices sharply higher, triggering a wave of panic selling across global equity markets.

Thursday's rebound, however, signals that investors don't believe the worst-case scenario has played out at least not yet.

Market experts note that crude prices hovering near $79 a barrel, while uncomfortable, remain manageable for India. Crucially, futures markets aren't pricing in a spike beyond $100 a barrel, unless there's a fresh disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.

On the flip side, Dr Reddy's Laboratories emerged as the top loser on the index, tumbling 5.99%. It was followed by Maruti Suzuki, which slipped 1.79%, while ONGC declined 1.42%, INFY fell 1.31%, and NTPC dropped 1.22%. 

On the global front, US equities mirrored the selloff, with the Dow shedding 1.09%, or roughly 500 points, by Wednesday's close. The S&P 500 slipped marginally, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed a modest gain.

Asian markets showed a mixed picture: Japan's Nikkei was up 1.38%, Shanghai's index closed 1.65% higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI) ended 0.7% lower.

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