Sensex and Nifty gained momentum by noon on February 13, lifted by financials, metals, and oil & gas stocks, as better-than-expected inflation data fueled optimism. The benchmarks had been on a losing streak, closing in the red for six straight sessions amid disappointing Q3 earnings, escalating U.S. tariff tensions, and persistent FII outflows.
At 11:55 AM, the Sensex was up 556 points or 0.7 percent at 76,727, and the Nifty was up 175 points or 0.8 percent at 23,220. About 2,321 shares advanced, 1,058 shares declined, and 103 shares were unchanged.
"When the market is in oversold territory, some triggers can ignite a rally. The Indian market is in highly oversold territory and, therefore, is likely to rally on positive news expected from the Trump-Modi talks today. Some agreement is likely between the US and India on reciprocal tariffs,"said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Trade war fears continued to loom after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened reciprocal tariffs on countries imposing duties on U.S. imports, raising the stakes ahead of his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington today.
India's retail inflation eased to a five-month low of 4.3 percent in January from 5.2 percent in December, mainly due to falling food prices. This raised hopes of more monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of India, but a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation reading tempered those expectations.
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"The decline in inflation trajectory justifies the MPC’s rate cut this month and creates a favourable condition for another 25 bp rate cut in April. This augurs well for the stock market in general and rate-sensitives in particular," Vijayakumar noted.
However, he cautioned, "From the market perspective, the elephant in the room continues to be the sustained FII selling which is showing no signs of abating," he added. So far in February, FIIs have net sold Indian equities worth Rs 22,098 crore.
Excluding Nifty IT, all other sectoral indices were in the green. Nifty Metal, Energy, Media, Metal, and Pharma led the gains, rising over 1 percent each.
Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Cipla, Bajaj Finserv, and JSW Steel were among the top gainers on Nifty 50, climbing 2-4 percent, while Adani Enterprises, Hero MotoCorp, Infosys, L&T, and Nestle were the biggest laggards, declining 0.1-1.2 percent.
Jubilant Foodworks surged almost 6 percent following its Q3 FY25 results, while NATCO Pharma plunged 19 percent after a 37 percent drop in net profit.
Also Read | Key factors driving Sensex, Nifty recovery today after 3% crash over 6-day losing streak
In the broader market, the BSE Midcap index advanced over 1 percent, and the BSE Smallcap index gained 0.7 percent.
"If Nifty sustains above the 23,180 level, it could extend gains toward the 23,260–23,500 range. On the downside, immediate support is placed at 22,950 and 22,775, which may present attractive buying opportunities for traders," said Aakash Shah, Technical Research Analyst at Choice Broking.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in January, lifting the annual inflation rate to 3 percent from 2.9 percent in December. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks to the House Financial Services Committee made it clear that the inflation battle is far from over, dashing hopes of near-term rate cuts.
The inflation surprise rippled through global markets—U.S. equities fell, the dollar strengthened, and Treasury yields surged. Rising U.S. interest rates generally reduce the appeal of emerging markets like India to foreign investors.
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