Markets snap 3-day fall: Sensex up 1,100 pts, Nifty above 22,500 ahead of RBI rate decision; all sectors rally

Jio Financial Services, Shriram Finance, Titan Company, Cipla, and Bharat Electronics were the top gainers on the Nifty.

Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex ended with firm gains and snapped a three-day losing streak on April 8. The rebound follows the sharp sell-off on April 7 that wiped out Rs 16 lakh crore in market capitalisation. All 13 sectoral indices rose around 2 percent, reflecting broad-based buying.

At close, the Sensex was up 1,089.18 points or 1.49 percent at 74,227.08, and the Nifty was up 374.25 points or 1.69 percent at 22,535.85. About 2968 shares advanced, 843 shares declined, and 115 shares unchanged. The rally came a day ahead of Reserve Bank of India's key rate decision. The RBI is widely expected to announce a 25 basis point rate cut on Wednesday.

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India’s volatility index, India VIX—often referred to as the "fear gauge"—also cooled down significantly, dropping by over 10 percent to hover around the 20 mark. This came after a dramatic spike the previous day when the index surged by as much as 66 percent to hit a five-year high.

Investors may continue in wait-and-watch mode since it will take time for clarity to emerge. "However, since India’s macros are stable and we can grow at around 6 percent in FY26 and the valuations are fair, particularly in large caps, long-term investors can start nibbling at high-quality large caps like the leading financials. Since Trump is unlikely to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals at this stage, pharma stocks, which are attractively priced now, appear to be good buys," said  V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments.

Also read: We could already be seeing a Trump bottom, says Prashant Khemka

"The primary reason behind the recent selloff is the fear of a full-blown global trade war and its potential to tip the world economy into a recession. Countries including China, Canada, and the European Union have spoken about retaliatory tariffs on American goods, and the uncertainty around whether a settlement can be reached before the next phase of tariff hikes is causing widespread nervousness," Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research and Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal said in a conversation with Moneycontrol.

All sectoral indices traded in the green, with the battered Nifty IT index leading the rebound after suffering an 8 percent decline over the past five sessions. Tech majors such as TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech, and Wipro rose as much as 4 percent in the afternoon session, as the sector prepares to kick off its March-quarter earnings season in two days.

Read more: Macquarie's India playbook: 6 stars, 6 hitters, and 6 rising stocks

Following the IT rally, strong gains were also seen in the Nifty Realty, Nifty Pharma, and Bank Nifty indices, which climbed up to 2 percent, reflecting broad-based buying across the market.

The broader market, represented by mid and small cap 100 indices, also mirrored positive trends with gains of 2.3 percent each. Despite the rebound, several market experts advised investors to maintain a cautious stance in the short term, citing continued uncertainty stemming from tariff-related tensions. Chetan Ahya, Chief Asia Economist at Morgan Stanley, remarked that India is unlikely to remain immune to the global slowdown triggered by escalating tariff wars. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he stated, "India could face a 40 to 50 basis point downside in GDP growth as a consequence of ongoing tariff tensions."

Shares of oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as Hindustan Petroleum Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Indian Oil Corp. surged in trade, lifted by the government's decision to raise the price of household LPG and the special excise duty on petrol and diesel. Oil companies are expected to recover around Rs 9,000 crore in FY26 through the Rs 50 hike in domestic LPG prices which will offset the ongoing losses, according to sources.

Shares of Info Edge, the parent company of job search platform Naukri.com, surged nearly 5 percent on April 8 after the company reported a 19 percent rise in standalone billings during the January-March quarter of financial year 2025. The shares of the company were trading 4.5 percent higher at Rs 6,684 apiece in the afternoon. In an exchange filing, Info Edge reported standalone billings at Rs 983.8 crore in Q4FY25, higher than the Rs 826.9 crore reported in Q4FY24.

The stocks of Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) firms in India rose about 9 percent on April 8 amid reports of Apple planning to source more iPhones from India to the US to beat the tariffs imposed on China. The Cupertino-based tech major is looking to implement the plan as a temporary measure to offset the high cost of imports due to the tariffs imposed on Beijing, the American daily Wall Street Journal reported.

"From a technical standpoint, the current market conditions appear quite troubling, as evidenced by the VIX spiking over 65 percent in just one day. This dramatic increase in volatility indicates significant uncertainty among investors," Sameet Chavan of Angel One said. "On the support levels, we anticipate that 22,000-21,800 to serve as a cushion, helping to stabilize the market amid the heightened volatility. Nonetheless, any breach below this specified support level, in conjunction with the 'Downward Sloping Channel' identified on the daily chart, could potentially allow for a decline towards 21750-21400 in the forthcoming period," he added.

Jio Financial Services, Shriram Finance, Titan Company, Cipla, and Bharat Electronics were the top gainers on the Nifty. Power Grid Corp was the only losers, ending marginally lower.

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