The Indian stock market extended its bull trend for the second straight session on April 15. Among the frontline indices, the Nifty today opened upside at 23,368, its intraday peak. The Nifty sustained higher levels and closed at 23,348, logging an intraday gain of 519 points. After ending at 23,348, the 50-stock index registered a 949-point gain in the last two straight sessions.
The Sensex opened northward at 76,852 and closed at 76,792 levels, logging an intraday gain of 1,634 points and an increase of 2,945 points in two straight sessions. Sensex's heavyweight Reliance share price remained on an uptrend for the last four sessions, logging around 6.50% rise.
The Bank Nifty index opened upside at 52,299 and ended at 52,379 levels, logging an intraday gain of 1,377 points. After ending at 52,379 levels, the Bank Nifty index logged almost 2,150 points gain in two straight sessions.
This Dalal Street rally is participatory as buying also occurred in the broad market. The BSE Smallcap index is up around 3.20%, while the Midcap index surged nearly 3% during Tuesday deals.
After the market close on Tuesday, 640 BSE-listed stocks had locked in circuits, 469 of which hit the upper circuit and 171 of which hit the lower circuit. 91 BSE-listed stocks had touched a 52-week high, while 49 BSE-listed stocks touched 52-week lows. BSE-listed stocks hitting 52-week highs include Bajaj Finance Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Eicher Motors Ltd, InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (Indigo), Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd, Coromandel International Ltd, Kaveri Seed Company Ltd, Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd, and Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. Stocks hitting 52-week lows include Sheela Foam Ltd, Artemis Electricals and Projects Ltd, Landmark Property Development Company Ltd, and Salona Cotspin Ltd.
According to experts, the Indian stock market is rising after an unexpected U-turn in Trump's tariff policy. They said that the US bond market following the US stock market, the trade war moving towards negotiations, weakness in the US dollar, divergent views of Donald Trump and US Fed chairman, and optimistic RBI on Indian inflation are some of the major reasons that have fuelled Dalal Street morale in the last two trade sessions.
"In normal circumstances, the US bond market and the US stock market move in opposite directions, but after the implementation of Trump's tariffs, the US bond market and the US stock market have crashed, which was a big surprise for the White House officials and a big section of investment experts," said Sandeep Pandey of Basav Capital.
"This could become possible as countries like China and others had accumulated US bonds after the inauguration of Donald Trump, keeping his tariffs in mind. Once Trump's tariffs became a reality, these countries started selling the US bonds, which forced the US bond market to follow the US stock market crash," Pandey added.
Connecting this unusual US market trend with Dalal Street, Pandey said that the market believes that Trump has taken a 90-day pause for himself rather than giving any relief to the US trade partners. He said that the market is expecting some tone-down in Trump's stance on tariffs as it harms the US economy more than its trade partners.
“After the 90 days' pause in Trump's tariffs, there is a buzz in the markets that back-channel trade negotiations will take place and some breakthrough is expected to come as the US also wants a deal with its trade partners after the crash in the US bond markets and the US stock market,” said Avinash Gorakshkar of Profitmart Securities.
Avinash Gorakshkar of Profitmart Securities said that US dollar rates have reached around two-year lows. The dollar index is under 100 after a gap of nearly two years, which means all US assets (Treasury yields, equities, and currency) are under pressure. So, FIIs are expected to change their pattern in the Indian stock market and pump money into Dalal Street-listed stocks after fishing out money from the US bond, equity and currency markets.
Speaking on the outlook of the Indian frontline indices, VK Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments, said: “The S&P 500 is up by 9% from the April lows on the tariff pause. Since the Nifty is up only 3% from the April lows, we have some catching up to do. This is catching up, and some short-covering will keep the market strong for the day.”
(By arrangement with livemint.com)
