Bank and financial stocks drive Sensex 450 pts higher; Nifty above 22,250

The blue-chip indexes lost about 1.6% each last week.

Among the Sensex stocks, , L&T, , , , and began the session on a higher note. Conversely, opened in the red after the lender reported a smaller-than-expected March quarter profit due to higher provisions.

IREDA shares rose 11% after the company reported a 33% rise in quarterly profit.

shares surged 4% after the company's arm JSW Neo Energy received a letter of award for 700 MW ISTS-connected solar capacity from NTPC.

On the sectoral front, PSU Bank, Realty, Metal, and Consumer Durables started the day with gains of over 1%. Additionally, Nifty Auto, Financial Services, Media, and Pharma also witnessed notable surges ranging from 0.4% to 0.9%.

India's most valuable company, will report results later on Monday.

Experts View
"The biggest positive for the market in the near term is that the feared escalation in the Israel-Iran tension is unlikely to happen. Israel didn’t officially confirm its strike in Iran and Iran downplayed the Israeli strike by ignoring it. The takeaway is that both sides don’t want an escalation of tensions. Decline in Brent crude from $90 to $87 is a confirmation of this expected deescalation," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

However the market is likely to be weighed by the high US bond yields (the 10-year yield has spiked to 4.65%) which can trigger further selling by FIIs, Vijayakumar said.

Deven Mehata, Research Analyst at Choice Broking, said, "Nifty can find support at 22,100 followed by 22,000 and 21,950. On the higher side, 22,250 can be an immediate resistance, followed by 22,300 and 22,400."

Asian Markets
Asian stocks recovered some losses on Monday and bond yields rose as fears of a wider Middle East conflict ebbed, with investors gravitating back towards riskier assets.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares rose 0.93%, retracing some of the 1.8% drop from Friday after news of the Israeli strike emerged.

Japan's Nikkei added 0.48%, underperforming the rest of the region due to a high concentration of chip-sector shares, which tracked declines in U.S. peers from Friday.

Oil Prices Decline
Oil prices fell at Asia's open on Monday, dragged down by a renewed focus on market fundamentals, as Israel and Iran played down the risks of an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East after Israel's apparently small strike on Iran.

Brent futures fell 67 cents, or 0.77%, to $86.62 a barrel. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for June dropped 64 cents, or 0.78%, to $81.58 a barrel.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 5 paise to 83.39 against the US dollar in early trade, supported by a drop in oil prices on receding worries over the Iran-Israel confrontation and by possible dollar inflows. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, declined 0.08% to 106.06 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)