Sensex rises 450 points, Nifty tops 22,550 on upbeat global market cues

The Labor Department's employment report showed the U.S. economy added fewer jobs than expected, while the unemployment rate ticked higher and wage growth unexpectedly cooled.

Among the Sensex components, Kotak Mahindra Bank emerged as the top performer, surging 4% after the bank reported an 18.22% year-on-year (YoY) increase in its standalone profit for Q4 FY24 to Rs 4,133.30 crore. Additionally, its net interest income (NII) for the same quarter increased by 13% YoY to Rs 6,909 crore.

JSW Steel, TCS, UltraTech Cement, Bharti Airtel, and Maruti Suzuki began the day on a positive note, while Titan, SBI, Power Grid, L&T, and Asian Paints started trading in the red.

Among individual stocks, Paytm fell 5% after Bhavesh Gupta, Chief Operating Officer and President of One 97 Communications (OCL), resigned from the fintech firm.

Britannia Industries shares gained 4% after the biscuit maker beat the fourth-quarter profit estimate post market hours on Friday.

On the sectoral front, IT surged 0.7% and Nifty Bank rose 0.4%. Nifty Auto, FMCG, Realty, and Healthcare also opened higher. Conversely, Nifty PSU Bank fell over 3%.

Experts Take
"The US jobs data for April has come lower-than-expected indicating weakening labour market and slowing economy. US unemployment has risen to 3.9% in April. So the possibility of a rate cut by the Fed has again brightened. The decline in the dollar index to 105.8 and the cut in the 10-year US bond yield to 4.49% augur well for the market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"The Q4 auto results coming this week will be keenly watched by the markets and positive market responses are likely," Vijayakumar said.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said, "Nifty could now head towards 22192 on the downside while 22619-22794 band could offer resistance on the upside."


Asian stocks rose on Monday on renewed bets that the Federal Reserve would likely ease rates this year. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged more than 0.5% higher, while China's blue-chip index gained 1.4%.

On Friday, Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 1.2%, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 1.3%. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index surged 2%.

FII/DII Tracker
In terms of investor activity, provisional data from the NSE reveals foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold Rs 2,391.98 crore shares, contrasting with domestic institutional investors (DIIs) who injected Rs 690.52 crore on May 3.

Crude Oil
Oil futures edged up on Monday after Saudi Arabia hiked June crude prices for most regions and as the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire deal appeared slim, renewing fears the Israel-Hamas conflict could still widen in the key oil producing region.

Brent crude futures climbed 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $83.24 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $78.40 a barrel, up 29 cents, or 0.4%.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 3 paise to 83.42 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, increased 0.13% to 105.17 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)