The BSE Sensex was up by 0.52 per cent, or 381.35 points, to 73,469.68, while the NSE Nifty was at 22,288.80, up by 0.64 per cent, or 141 points. A total of 3,836 stocks were actively traded, 2,667 advanced, while 1,004 declined, and 174 stocks remained unchanged, where 198 stocks hit a 52-week high and 11 stocks hit a 52-week low at 11.30 am on Monday.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The biggest positive for the market  in the near-term is that the feared escalation in the Israel-Iran tension is unlikely to happen. Israel didn’t officially confirm its strike in Iran and Iran downplayed the Israeli strike by ignoring it. 

The takeaway is that both sides don’t want an escalation of tensions. Decline in Brent crude from $90 to $87 is a confirmation of this expected de-escalation. However the market is likely to be weighed by the high US bond yields (the 10-year yield has spiked to 4.65 per cent) which can trigger further selling by FIIs. Since large caps constitute the lion’s share of the AUM of FIIs, the pressure will be on large caps despite their relatively fair valuations.

FII selling will provide opportunities to investors to slowly accumulate high quality large caps like HDFC Bank which has reported good Q4 results with improving margins. The Q4 results of autos, capital goods and cement companies will be good and the market can be expected to respond positively to the numbers.”

Top gainers on the NSE include, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (3.62 per cent), Shri Ram Finance (2.32 per cent), Wipro (2.27 per cent), Eicher Motors (2.27 per cent), Bajaj Finance (2.11 per cent). Top losers include, NTPC (-1.37 per cent), HDFC Bank (-0.78 per cent), JSW Steel (-0.18 per cent), ITC (-0.09 per cent) and Nestle India trades flat at 11.30 am.

BSE Midcap was up by 0.95 per cent and BSE Smallcap was up by 1.37 per cent indicating gains. 

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