MUMBAI — The Sensex surged 1,109.10 points, or 1.54 per cent, to close at 73,033.78 on Tuesday, while the Nifty 50 climbed 358.60 points, or 1.60 per cent, to 22,721.95. IT stocks led the rally after stronger-than-expected quarterly results from HCL Technologies lifted buying across the sector.
The Nifty IT index jumped 5.2 per cent, its strongest session in more than 17 months. HCLTech rose 8.4 per cent, while Tata Consultancy Services gained 6.8 per cent. Shriram Finance also advanced 6.3 per cent amid reports of potential acquisition interest from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The recovery came against a difficult backdrop in Asia. The MSCI Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan fell more than 2 per cent, reaching its lowest level since late July as semiconductor stocks came under heavy selling.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics dropped 8 per cent and SK Hynix plunged 10 per cent, while Taiwan’s TSMC lost 1.8 per cent. Reports of Chinese chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies narrowing the technology gap intensified concerns over competition in the artificial-intelligence industry.
Wall Street also ended Monday’s session on a mixed note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38 per cent, but the S&P 500 slipped 0.06 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.44 per cent. Technology shares weakened as investors awaited quarterly earnings from major US banks and fresh economic data. Brent crude rose 1.8 per cent to $106.65 a barrel, adding to concerns about inflation and energy costs.
The rupee strengthened to around ₹95.28 against the US dollar on Tuesday after the RBI introduced measures aimed at easing pressure on the currency. However, September retail inflation rose to 5.54 per cent, approaching the central bank’s 6 per cent upper tolerance limit.
Foreign investors also remained net sellers, offloading ₹1,305.13 crore in equities, according to provisional exchange data.
