After two months of intense selling pressure, India’s equity market staged a significant rally on Friday, with benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 surging about 2.5% each—their highest single-day gain in nearly five months. The Sensex soared over 2,000 points intraday, while the Nifty climbed more than 600 points as investors rushed to buy heavyweight stocks like Reliance, Infosys, TCS, and SBI.
Market experts attribute the rally to expectations of a BJP-led Mahayuti victory in the Maharashtra Assembly Election, with results for Maharashtra and Jharkhand set to be announced on Saturday. Additionally, a recovery in Adani Group shares, which had plunged by up to 23% on Thursday following bribery allegations, also helped boost market sentiment.
The Sensex closed 1,961 points, or 2.54%, higher at 79,117.11, while the Nifty 50 ended 557 points, or 2.39%, higher at 23,907.25. IT and realty outperformed, rising over 3% each, while broader indices participated but lagged the benchmarks. The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices rose 1.266 and 0.90%, respectively.
The market capitalisation (m-cap) of all BSE-listed firms surged to Rs 432.6 lakh crore from Rs 425.4 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors wealthier by about Rs 7.2 lakh crore on Friday.
Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said that the exit polls hinting at BJP winning in both states ( Maharashtra and Jharkhand) seemed to have boosted investors' sentiment in a big way and shrugged off the alleged bribery charges against the Adani group.
“Also, many of the stocks are now looking relatively attractive, especially after the relentless selloff over past few weeks due to dismal Q2 earnings and unabated FII fund outflows, and hence the reversal of trend,” added Mehta.
Ajit Mishra – SVP of Research, Religare Broking said that the state election results could influence the market’s direction on Monday, especially in the early hours. He added that the Nifty is nearing its immediate resistance at the 20 DEMA around 24,050.
“A decisive breakout could push it toward 24,350, but failure may trigger profit booking. Traders should maintain a stock-specific approach, focusing on IT and banking, which exhibit stronger momentum, while being selective in other sectors,” he said.
State Bank of India, Bajaj Finance and Titan were among the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index. Only one stock - Bajaj Auto - closed in the red in the 50-share pack. Among sectors, Nifty IT, Realty, PSU Bank, Oil & Gas and FMCG indices jumped 2 to 3%. Only Nifty Media settled in the red.
Six Adani shares turn Green, Four declines by up to 8%
Among the 10 listed Adani Group shares, 6 shares turned green on Friday. Shares of flagship firm Adani Enterprises, Adani Total Gas, Adani Ports, Ambuja Cement, ACC Cement and NDTV gained up to 3%.
Adani Green Energy, the company that is in the spotlight for allegedly bribing state government officials to win solar contracts, plummeted more than 8% on Friday. Adani Energy Solutions cracked 7% and Adani Power slipped 3%. Adani Wilmar fell about 1%.
Adani Group shares nosedived more than 23% on Thursday and the conglomerates’ combined market capitalisation of the 10 listed group stocks declined by about Rs 2.28 lakh previous session crore after chairman Gautam Adani was indicted in the United States over bribery and fraud charges.
The US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and other defendants for paying $265 million in bribes between 2020 and 2024 to Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts on terms that could potentially bring in more than $2 billion in profit.
This, they alleged, was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the project.
Adani Group said that the allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of Adani Green are baseless and denied. The Group added that all possible legal recourse will be sought.