Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks surged sharply on Thursday, extending their winning streak to six consecutive sessions. The market rally was fuelled by a relief-driven global environment after the US midterm election results, a steep decline in crude oil prices, and sustained buying by foreign institutional investors.
Dalal Street Sees Massive Gains
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,609.54 points, or 2.08%, to reach 78,910.94, while the NSE Nifty 50 advanced 417.45 points, or 1.74%, to 24,378.05.
According to reports from The Economic Times, the early surge added over ₹6.9 lakh crore to total investor wealth.
On the currency front, the Indian rupee strengthened by 29 paise to open at a two-week high of 94.35 per US dollar, supported by a weakening US dollar index and robust equity inflows.
Key Drivers Behind the Surge
Democratic Victory in US Midterms: As reported by Reuters, the Democratic Party secured control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2026 US midterm elections. Markets reacted positively to the reduction in political uncertainty, with investors betting that the Democratic majority could place pressure on President Donald Trump’s administration to de-escalate global tariff disputes and bring an end to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited, told ANI that the outcome boosted global sentiment by raising expectations of a more measured approach to international trade policies, which in turn favours foreign fund flows into emerging markets.
Crude Oil Prices Plunge: Oil prices tumbled to two-month lows amid expectations of reduced Middle Eastern geopolitical friction. Brent crude slipped below $95 per barrel—trading down to $94.12—following an 8.7% drop in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell below $88 per barrel.
Speaking to Reuters, Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO of HST Wealth, highlighted that unlike previous gradual dips, the magnitude of this sharp drop could materially improve India’s macro parameters and corporate earnings outlook if sustained.
Strong Rebound in Foreign Institutional Buying: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying trend for a fourth straight session, purchasing net Indian equities worth ₹72.84 billion ($769.65 million) on Wednesday alone. Across the first three trading sessions of November, overseas investors infused over ₹17,235 crore into domestic stocks.
Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, told ANI that the return of foreign capital lent significant depth to the ongoing market recovery, though he cautioned that sustaining these gains past the initial trading hours will be crucial to confirm a long-term trend.
Broad-Based Sectoral Participation
The market rally extended beyond heavyweights, with 14 out of 16 major sectoral indices closing in positive territory. The Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 indices gained 1.46% and 1.49%, respectively.
Nifty Private Bank led sectoral gains with a 2.55% rise, followed by Realty (1.92%), IT (1.72%), and Auto (1.66%). Among individual Sensex gainers, Bajaj Finance rallied over 5.3%, Maruti Suzuki advanced 4.94%, and InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) climbed 4.88%. IT heavyweights Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and TCS also posted solid gains between 2.8% and 3.7%.