Bulls in Action! Sensex jumps 600 points, Nifty settles near 23,600: 5 factors behind today's D-St rally

Indian stock markets extended gains for the second consecutive session, with Sensex gaining nearly 600 points and Nifty 50 closing near the 23,600 level. Pause in rupee’s free fall, expectations of traffic resuming through the Strait of Hormuz were among the key factors behind market’s uptrend today.

The Sensex rose around 324 points to open at 75,827, while the Nifty 50 gained over 84 points to open at 23,493. After briefly turning flat, the indices rebounded strongly. Sensex jumped 568 points to close at 76,071, while Nifty 50 gained more than 172 points to end the session at 23,581. The benchmark indices have recorded sharp gains this week so far, after a massive selloff last week.

Zomato-parent Eternal, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Bharat Electronics (BEL), and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers on Sensex, rising up to 6%. Infosys, ITC, Bajaj Finance, and TCS, meanwhile, led gains.


Most of the sectoral indices on NSE closed in the green, with Nifty Metal leading gains after rising nearly 3%. Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty followed, gaining around 2% each. Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG however declined around 1% each, bucking the trend. Around 1,934 stocks advanced on NSE, while 1,299 declined and 94 remained unchanged.

Here are the key factors behind the market uptrend today:

1) Expectations of Strait of Hormuz reopening

Some ships have reportedly begun transiting through the Strait of Hormuz after a prolonged disruption caused by Iranian strikes on vessels, which had triggered a rally in oil prices and rattled global markets amid the Middle East conflict. US President Donald Trump on Monday said he had asked seven countries to deploy warships to help keep the Strait open. However, it remains unclear whether these countries have agreed, keeping investors on edge.

India’s second LPG carrier, Nanda Devi, arrived safely at Vadinar port in Gujarat on Tuesday, carrying 46,500 metric tonnes of gas after navigating the Strait amid the West Asia conflict. The first vessel, Shivalik, reached Mundra port on Monday. Meanwhile, Iraq’s oil minister said Baghdad is in talks with Iran to allow some of its oil tankers to pass through the Strait, according to a state news agency report.

2) Rupee stages mild recovery

The Indian rupee slightly recovered to snap its recent losing streak on Tuesday, closing at 92.37 against the US dollar, compared with the previous close of 92.42. The currency had come under sharp pressure earlier, hitting a record lows after breaching the 92-mark for the first time last week, as geopolitical tensions boosted the safe-haven appeal of the greenback.

Despite the marginal recovery, sentiment remains cautious, with the rupee still trading beyond the 92 level. “Market participants are cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this week, which could influence global dollar flows and emerging market currencies,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP – Research Analyst (Commodity and Currency) at LKP Securities.

“Concerns over potential disruptions to oil and gas supplies through the Strait of Hormuz are keeping sentiment fragile. If geopolitical tensions persist and energy prices remain elevated, the rupee may continue to face downside pressure. In the near term, it is expected to trade in a weak range of 91.95 to 92.65 against the US dollar,” he added.

3) Bond yield declines

US bond yields declined as risk appetite improved and Wall Street rallied. The benchmark 10-year yield fell 6.3 basis points to 4.222% after rising for five consecutive sessions, and was on track for its biggest daily drop since mid-February. The US two-year yield, which reflects interest rate expectations, slipped 5.4 basis points to 3.679%, marking its sharpest one-day fall since late February.

Rising bond yields typically make government securities more attractive relative to equities, potentially weighing on stock markets.

4) Value-buying after sharp selloff

The rise in stock markets for two consecutive sessions may have also been driven by value-buying after the massive selloff seen in the previous week. Sensex and Nifty had fallen below the 75,000 mark and Nifty 50 had dropped below the 23,200 level for the first time on Friday since April 2025, wiping off a significant chunk of investors’ wealth.

5) Global markets rise

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Monday, fuelled by a rally in AI-linked stocks. A brief drop in crude prices after the U.S. said it would be "fine" with some Iranian, Indian and Chinese ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz also offered some relief to the market. The S&P 500 climbed 1.01% to end the session at 6,699, its strongest one-day gain in over a month. The Nasdaq gained 1.22%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.83%.

Asian markets are currently mostly in the green, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gaining around 0.3% and South Korea’s Kospi jumping more than 1.6%, as seen at 2 pm IST. Japan’s Nikkei however slipped into the red.

Bears hiding behind the bulls?

Despite the market uptrend, caution remains warranted. The Iran–US-Israel conflict has entered its third week with no signs of de-escalation. Israel’s military said it had launched a “wide-scale wave of strikes” across Tehran, shortly after warning of a second round of incoming missiles from Iran overnight.

The military also said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut. Meanwhile, shortly after the UAE reopened its airspace, authorities issued missile alerts in Dubai, with explosions heard as defence systems attempted to intercept incoming projectiles.

Crude oil prices remain elevated after a brief dip earlier, with Brent crude futures jumping over 4% to $104 per barrel. In addition, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to offload Indian equities, selling shares worth Rs 9,365.52 crore on Monday — marking their 12th consecutive session of net selling. While this does not reflect today’s activity, sustained outflows in recent sessions have weighed on investor sentiment.

Technical view

Nifty 50 has formed a bullish candle with shadows in either direction signaling pullback from the oversold territory after testing the psychological 23,000 levels earlier during the session yesterday, said Bajaj Broking. “Volatility is also expected to remain elevated due to uncertain global cues, rising crude oil prices, and increasing geopolitical tensions, which will keep traders cautious in the near term,” it added.

“Overall bias continues to remain down with immediate resistance placed at 23,700-23,800 levels being the confluence of the last week breakdown area and 8 days EMA. Index need to start forming higher high and higher low on sustained basis to signal a pause in the current downtrend,” the domestic brokerage said.

On the downside, it sees Nifty finding key support in the 22,700–22,400 zone, which coincides with the previous gap area and the 78.6% retracement of the earlier major up move.