Stock market opens higher after 4 days, investor wealth up by Rs 4 lakh crore; here's why 

Benchmark indices opened higher after four straight sessions of losses on Monday as US-Iran war came to a halt over the weekend. The relief in geopolitical tensions in West Asia led to a crash in brent crude prices from $102 four days ago to around $93 this morning turning sentiment positive for the market. 

Sensex rose 637 pts to 76,696 and Nifty gained 197 pts to 23,964. Stocks such as IndiGo, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Eternal, HUL, Bajaj Finserv, ITC and Tech Mahindra were the top Sensex gainers today, rising up to 3.15%. 
 
ICICI Bank was the sole Sensex loser, falling 0.08% to Rs 1432. 

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose by Rs 3.83 lakh crore to Rs 479.52 lakh crore against the previous day's market cap of Rs 475.69 lakh crore.

Market rally in numbers

83 stocks hit 52-week highs 

Amid the market rally, as many as 35 stocks hit their 52-week lows today. On the other hand, 83 shares hit their 52-week highs on BSE in early deals today.

India VIX falls 

In the current session, the India VIX index slipped 6% to 13.16 against the previous close of 14.03. The fall in India VIX signaled a fall in volatility in the stock market today.  

Market breadth in green

Out of 3,610 stocks traded, 2612 stocks were trading in the green. Around 792 stocks were trading in the red while 206 stocks remained unchanged.

Lower circuits, Upper circuits

Around 100 stocks hit their lower circuits amid market rally in early deals today. On the other hand, 103 shares hit their upper circuit limits. 

FII selloff 

Foreign institutional investors sold Rs 4024 crore worth of equities on a net basis on Friday, while domestic investors bought shares worth Rs 5589 crore, as per provisional NSE data.

Expert take 

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said, "If the de-escalation of the West Asia conflict holds and crude price drifts lower, that can sustain a mild rally in the market. FII flows have been very inconsistent this month, alternating between buying and selling. 

The correction in chip stocks and concerns surrounding the AI trade have the potential to revive enthusiasm of FPIs in Indian stocks. The diversity of stocks available in the Indian market is rare among emerging markets. At some point the FPIs will be forced to recognise this and move away from markets dominated by a single stock or two stocks as in Taiwan and South Korea. 

This is already happening in a small way and this trend is likely to gather momentum, going forward. The price of crude and the progress of the monsoon will be the two factors that will influence this trend."

Previous session 

Sensex declined 331.62 points or 0.43 per cent to settle at 76,059.77. Nifty50 index fell 102.15 points or 0.43 per cent to close at 23,767.45.