Sensex, Nifty start muted but skyrocket later; BSE up 1,100 points | Business News

Equities Sensex and Nifty opened muted but later skyrocketed on Tuesday as even as investors tracked escalating Middle East tensions and elevated crude oil prices, while a faster-than-expected rise in retail inflation added to concerns over further interest rate hikes.BSE Sensex, at 3:37 pm, stood at 73,033.78, up by 1,109 points or 1.54 per cent. Nifty, meanwhile, surged 358.60 points to 22,721.95.Why did markets rise today?The indices rebounded in early trade on Tuesday amid a rally in blue-chip HDFC Bank and IT stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 305 points to 72,224.15 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty was up 93.40 points to 22,458.50, according to a PTI news agency report data.From the 30 Sensex firms, HCL Tech jumped nearly 5 per cent after the IT firm reported a 21.18 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to ₹5,132 crore for the July-September quarter of FY27, helped by higher margins from its fast-growing advanced AI operations and a lower tax outgo.Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HDFC Bank and Trent were also among the winners. NTPC, Power Grid, Maruti and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the laggards.India's retail inflation accelerated to a higher-than-expected 5.54 per cent in September, data showed on Monday, moving closer to the central bank's upper tolerance limit of six per cent. The rise strengthened the case for further rate hikes as the Iran war and a weak monsoon added to price pressures."If food and energy prices remain elevated, persistent price pressures could strengthen the case for further monetary tightening and keep borrowing costs higher for longer," said Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, founder and CEO of HST Wealth.The Iran war, now in its eighth month, continued to keep Brent crude futures elevated at around $105 per barrel. Traders assessed supply risks from attacks on Saudi Arabia while weighing a proposed increase in diesel supplies from Russia.Asian stocks fell more than two per cent in early trading on Tuesday, with South Korea's tech-heavy KOSPI sliding six per cent and Japan's Nikkei dropping 2.6 per cent.The Reserve Bank of India tightened rules governing rupee non-deliverable derivative contracts, extending the 20 per cent cash reserve requirement to banks' own rupee currency hedges.The move is the latest in a series of measures announced by the central bank since Saturday to support the rupee, which has weakened amid elevated oil prices and capital outflows.Foreign investors net sold Indian shares worth 17.08 billion rupees ($178.34 million) on Monday, according to provisional data, marking their 12th consecutive session of selling.They have already offloaded $4.9 billion worth of shares in October, putting the month on track for the biggest monthly selloff since June.