Mumbai, July 9 (IANS) Indian equity benchmarks advanced in early trade on Thursday despite renewed geopolitical tensions and a rebound in crude oil prices to the $80-a-barrel mark.

Sensex surged as much as 0.32 per cent or about 250 points to hit an intraday high of 76,752 in morning trade, while Nifty climbed 0.20 per cent or 46.90 points to 23,928.95.

Sectorally, Nifty Consumer Durables led the gains, rising 1.39 per cent, followed by Nifty Mid-Small Financial Services (0.95 per cent), Nifty Cement (0.69 per cent), Nifty Private Bank (0.66 per cent), Nifty PSU Bank (0.64 per cent) and Nifty Auto (0.62 per cent).

In contrast, Nifty IT emerged as the top sectoral loser, declining more than 1 per cent.

Among Nifty constituents, Infosys, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Hindalco Industries fell between 1 and 2 per cent.

According to market experts, geopolitical tensions have once again weighed on investor sentiment, with US President Donald Trump’s remarks on Iran triggering selling pressure in the market.

However, they noted that Brent crude at around $80 a barrel was not yet a major concern for India, adding that continued foreign institutional investor (FII) buying and stable oil prices could help large-cap stocks, especially financials and automobiles, remain resilient.

Moreover, the American President Trump has said that the US had carried out fresh strikes against Iran overnight in response to what he described as Iranian attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

He said, “To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum…They are sick people. They’re led by sick people. They are vicious, violent people and if they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. As far as I am concerned, it’s over. I’ll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars. We make a deal…Everyone’s agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside and talk to the press. They say we never even talked about it. There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

International benchmark Brent crude rose 1.49 per cent to around $80 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained more than 2 per cent to $75 a barrel.

Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei rose nearly 2 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi edged higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, however, declined about 1 per cent.

–IANS

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