Mumbai, April 15 -- Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty surged over 1 per cent on Wednesday as hopes of renewed diplomatic engagement between the US and Iran and crude oil trading below the USD 100-a-barrel level bolstered investor sentiment.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,263.67 points or 1.64 per cent to settle at 78,111.24. During the day, it zoomed 1,422.85 points or 1.85 per cent to 78,270.42.
The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 388.65 points or 1.63 per cent to end at 24,231.30.
Among the 30-Sensex firms, InterGlobe Aviation, Eternal, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, and Larsen & Toubro were the major gainers.
Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were the laggards. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading at USD 95.74 per barrel, up by 1.4 per cent.
US President Donald Trump has said that the war with Iran is "close to over," asserting that if he pulled up stakes right now, it would take Tehran 20 years to rebuild the country. "I think it's close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to being over," Trump told Fox News in an interview that will be telecast later Wednesday.
As per a US media report on Tuesday, Trump said that a second round of talks with Iran could be held in Islamabad "over the next two days".
The BSE SmallCap Select index jumped 2.62 per cent and MidCap Select index climbed 2.55 per cent.
Services jumped 3.30 per cent, Focused IT (3.09 per cent), industrials (2.90 per cent), power (2.87 per cent), Consumer Durables (2.84 per cent), IT (2.78 per cent), Capital Goods (2.54 per cent) and Utilities (2.52 per cent). A total of 3,585 stocks advanced while 802 declined and 126 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Stock markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Ambedkar Jayanti.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.