Fabulous Friday! Sensex, Nifty rebound strongly, jump almost 2% each amid broad-based buying

Market breadth was strongly positive

US President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on tariffs brought cheer to Dalal Street, lifting investor sentiment and driving a rally in the benchmark indices. On April 11, both the Sensex and Nifty rose almost 2 percent, marking a strong rebound in the equity markets.

The day saw widespread buying across sectors, with metal and pharma stocks leading the gains. Meanwhile, the market's fear barometer, India VIX, declined sharply by 6.21 percent, indicating easing investor anxiety.

At close, the Sensex was up 1,310.11 points or 1.77 percent at 75,157.26, and the Nifty was up 429.40 points or 1.92 percent at 22,828.55. Market breadth was strongly positive as around 3,006 shares advanced, 807 shares declined, and 110 shares unchanged.

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There was also a clear improvement in broader market participation. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices both registered gains of 1.85 and 2.88 percent respectively, suggesting that the recovery was not limited to large-cap stocks alone.

Brian Coulton, Chief Economist at Fitch Ratings, attributed the market’s rebound to the unwinding of leveraged positions during the session. In an interview with CNBC-TV18, he added that the Trump administration is unlikely to return to the earlier tariff levels, and while the pause is temporary, it has somewhat lowered the risk of a recession in the US.

Nilesh Shah, Managing Director and CEO of Envision Capital, commented that much of the damage to the market has already taken place, and that current valuations in India are beginning to look attractive. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said, “Uncertainty will continue, but the market may be past the worst in terms of price destruction.”

Among sectors, metal stocks were the top performers. The Nifty Metal index emerged as the biggest sectoral gainer of the day. The relief following the temporary halt in tariffs eased global slowdown concerns, which had earlier weighed on metal producers. Leading the rally, shares of JSW Steel, Hindustan Zinc, and Tata Steel climbed as much as 4 percent.

Pharma stocks also joined the upward momentum. The Nifty Pharma index gained over 2 percent during the session. Among individual gainers, Sun Pharma, Divi’s Laboratories, and Cipla rose between 2 percent and 3 percent on April 11.

However, for the holiday-truncated week, Nifty and Sensex were down 0.5 percent each. Barring Nifty FMCG which gained more than 3 percent for the week, all other sectors nosedived in then negative territory. Nifty Realty and Nifty Metal indices were the worst performers for the week, declining in the range of 3-4 percent.