Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: With the US and Iran taking another shot at a likely ‘ceasefire’ in their five-month-long conflict, crude oil prices fell and markets, including Indian, looked up, ending in the green.
According to media reports, crude oil futures traded lower on Monday morning after the US and Iran halted strikes against each other’s targets over the weekend and stuck to it on Saturday and Sunday.
This fall reflected immediately on the bourses globally, in the hope of yet another chance of peace in West Asia.
In India, stock markets snapped the five-day losing streak on Monday, with the benchmark Sensex jumping by 776 points following a sharp decline in crude oil prices amid easing tensions in West Asia.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 776.01 points, or 1.02 per cent, to settle at 76,835.78. During the day, it soared 841.74 points, or 1.10 per cent, to 76,901.51.
The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 228.50 points, or 0.96 per cent, to close at 23,995.95, ending its five-day losing trend.
Among Sensex firms, Eternal jumped the most by 5.70 per cent. InterGlobe Aviation, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the gainers. HDFC Bank, Power Grid and Axis Bank were the laggards.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, tanked 9.40 per cent to USD 87.64 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs. 3,892.77 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The Indian rupee opened at INR 96.1475 against the US dollar and climbed to an intraday high of INR 95.7950, having settled at INR 96.5625 in the previous session. It ended 0.7 per cent higher on Monday, its biggest single session gain since June 12.
This renewed optimism in market sentiment became visible when, at 10.02 am on Monday, October Brent oil futures plummeted to USD 87.58, down by 4.47 per cent, and September crude oil futures on WTI (West Texas Intermediate) were at USD 84.83, down by 5.02 per cent.
The August crude oil futures traded at INR 8188 on Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) during the initial hour of trading on Monday against the previous close of INR 8604, down by 4.83 per cent, and September futures at INR 7901 against the previous close of INR 8247, down by 4.20 per cent.
Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the United Nations, told ‘Fox News Sunday’ that US President Donald Trump has paused attacks on Iran to allow more room for diplomacy. “He’s giving talks some space, he’s giving it a little bit of room,” he said.
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