Stock markets rise for 7th day; Sensex reclaims 80k-level on rally in IT shares, FII inflows
Mumbai, Apr 23 (PTI): Stock markets extended the winning run to seventh day on Wednesday with benchmark BSE Sensex jumping 520 points to close above 80,000 level for the first time in four months driven by strong gains in IT and auto shares.
The 30-share Sensex rose by 520.90 points or 0.65 per cent to settle at 80,116.49, the highest closing level since December 18. During the day, it surged 658.96 points or 0.82 per cent to 80,254.55.
The NSE Nifty rallied 161.70 points or 0.67 per cent to 24,328.95.
Foreign fund inflows and positive global trends also boosted the market sentiment, analysts said.
Among the Sensex firms, HCL Tech surged the most by 7.72 per cent after the firm posted an 8.1 per cent increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 4,307 crore for March quarter 2024-25, mainly on account of large deals with a total contract value of about Rs 25,500 crore.
Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Maruti were also among major gainers.
Banking shares witnessed a sell-off after recent sharp gains with leading private lender HDFC Bank dropping by 1.98 per cent to emerge as the biggest loser among Sensex shares.
Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ITC and UltraTech Cement were also among the laggards.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled in the positive territory. Shanghai SSE Composite ended marginally lower.
Markets in Europe were trading significantly higher.
US markets bounced back sharply on Tuesday. Nasdaq Composite surged 2.71 per cent, Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.66 per cent and S&P 500 rallied 2.51 per cent.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,290.43 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
"The Indian equity market sustained its positive momentum, driven by better outcome from the latest set of IT results and optimistic forward-looking comments. However, profit-booking was visible in financials after the recent sharp rally.
"While US-China trade tensions appear to be easing, a rally in US tech stocks has further bolstered overall global market sentiment," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.94 per cent and smallcap index went up by 0.26 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, BSE Focused IT surged 4.25 per cent, IT jumped 4 per cent, teck (3.10 per cent), auto (2.34 per cent), realty (1.37 per cent), consumer discretionary (1.02 per cent), healthcare (0.96 per cent) and industrials (0.84 per cent).
Financial Services, bankex and consumer durables were the laggards.
As many as 2,078 stocks advanced while 1,873 declined and 155 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.35 per cent to USD 68.35 a barrel.
The BSE benchmark climbed 187.09 points or 0.24 per cent to settle at 79,595.59 on Tuesday. The Nifty went up by 41.70 points or 0.17 per cent to 24,167.25.
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Congress cites Maniben Patel's diary entries, asks Rajnath to apologise for Babri claim
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday shared diary entries of Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter from a book to rebut Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's claim that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, and demanded that Singh apologise for spreading "falsehoods".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, claimed the defence minister was spreading falsehoods to “improve his relationship” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Here is Maniben's original diary entry in Gujarati on pages 212-213 in the book ‘Samarpit Padchhayo Sardarno’ by CA R S Patel 'Aaresh', published by Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Patel Memorial Society, 2025,” Ramesh said on X, sharing screenshots of the relevant pages from the book.
“There is a huge difference between what is contained in the original diary entry and what Rajnath Singh ji and his fellow ‘distorians’ are propagating,” Ramesh said.
“The Defence Minister must apologise for the falsehoods he is spreading, simply to improve his relationship with the PM,” he claimed.
The Congress had earlier termed Singh's claim that Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds a “lie” and “WhatsApp university story”, and said the defence minister should not walk in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's path.
Addressing a gathering at Sadhli village in Gujarat's Vadodara district last Tuesday, Singh said Nehru wanted to build the Babri masjid using public funds, but Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel didn't allow his plans to succeed.
The BJP had cited a book by Vallabhbhai Patel's daughter to double down on Singh's claims, and said the first prime minister also said he felt "repelled" by some of the temples in south India despite their beauty.
“The source of what Rajnath Singh said is the 'Inside Story of Sardar Patel, Diary of Maniben Patel'," BJP Rajya Sabha MP and national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi had said at a press conference at the party headquarters while responding to media queries on the issue.
Trivedi claimed that on Page 24 of the book, it is written that Nehru also raised the question of the Babri mosque, but Sardar Patel made it clear that the government could not spend any money on building a mosque.
