Mumbai: Indian stocks surged on Monday as a ceasefire between India and Pakistan calmed fears of conflict escalation. The BSE Sensex surged 2,243 points, or 2.82 per cent higher, and the Nifty 50 index gained 681 points, or 2.83 per cent. The strong advance wiped out the declines of a week ago, when geopolitical unease shaken investors.
Market fall began with the deterioration in India-Pakistan relations over the terrorist attack in Pahalgam and India’s airstrikes in Pakistan. For the week, the BSE Sensex was down 880 points, or 1.10%, while the Nifty mirrored the trend to drop 265 points, also 1.10%. This uncertainty over war has weighed on financial markets. But when a ceasefire effective May 10 was announced Saturday, the mood swung positively, spreading optimism and giving Monday’s rise a boost.
Of the 30 stocks included in the Sensex index, 29 settled in the green, and only Sun Pharma ended in the red zone. Axis Bank took the lead, with its stock up 3.72%. The other gainers were Bajaj Finance, Adani Ports, NTPC, and Reliance Industries; ETERNAL also showed a gradual difference.
Among the 50 stocks in Nifty 50, stakes of 12 increased up, while Larsen & Toubro attracted attention as an everlasting 4.17 per cent. Other top gainers were Titan, Tata Motors, Hero MotoCorp, Bharat Electronics and State Bank of India, indicating broad-based buying across sectors.
Investors breathed a sigh of relief that diplomacy contained a huge escalation, and the market quickly bounced back. Despite the ongoing uncertainties in the region, the surge on Monday reflected a sense of stability, at least for now, in India’s financial capital.