Sensex surges 850 points, Nifty soars past 22,600 led by ICICI Bank, SBI Life and Axis Bank

Stock market news: Indian benchmarks opened higher on Monday, April 29, tracking momentum in the Asian peers and better-than-expected quarterly results. The indices further rose during mid-day in a rally majorly led by financial stocks 

The blue-chip S&P BSE Sensex was trading 853.45 points higher at 74,583.60 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 was trading 194 points higher at 22,613.95  as of 2:30 pm.

“Nifty has its max pain at 22500 currently, with the Fed event on May 1, shall have great bearing on the broader indices, hence expected range for the truncated week remains between 22,300 - 22,600. Market participants must remain hedged on their Long positions. All those who are looking for bottom fishing on Kotak Bank should hold off for the 1,700 levels and not be aggressive in initiating long positions,” said Rahul Ghose Founder & CEO, Hedged.in.

ICICI Bank emerged as a frontrunner in early trade, marking over 2 per cent rise. This surge follows the announcement of the bank's robust financial performance for the March quarter, reporting a consolidated net profit growth of 18.5 per cent to Rs 11,672 crore, aided by reduced provisions.

Alongside ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries contributed to the market upswing, underpinning positive sentiment among investors.

The early trading session witnessed a mixed bag of performance across various sectors. While financial stocks exhibited strength, with ICICI Bank leading the charge, technology and automobile sectors showed signs of lagging, with companies like HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Maruti Suzuki facing downward pressure.

Asian markets set a positive tone for the day, buoyed by gains in US equities post the release of robust quarterly results from technology giants Alphabet and Microsoft, coupled with encouraging inflation data.

Investor focus remains on quarterly earnings reports, expected to steer market dynamics. Notable companies under scrutiny include Maruti Suzuki, which missed profit estimates due to elevated input costs, and HCL Technologies, which reported a lower-than-anticipated revenue for the March quarter.

Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree for the fifth consecutive session on Friday, divesting shares worth Rs 3,409 crore. In contrast, domestic institutional investors exhibited a buying spree, acquiring shares worth Rs 4,357 crore on a net basis.