Why Sensex rose 700 pts today, shrugging off US-Iran tensions   

The Indian stock market opened higher on Friday amid positive global cues and a rally in IT stocks. Benchmark indices shrugged off US-Iran tensions on the back of AI led rally in Asian markets. Sensex rose 715 points to 77443 and Nifty gained 200 pts to 24,158 in early deals today. IT shares rallied after TCS Q1 earnings met street expectations. 

Crude oil prices trading below $73 per barrel also led to a positive sentiment on the Dalal Street. 

Among Sensex constituents, Infosys, TCS, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra were the top gainers today, rising up to 4%. The market also rallied after Asian stocks zoomed led by chip and AI firms as investors brushed off concern over the stalled recovery of energy supplies through the critical Strait of Hormuz. 

Nikkei zoomed 1196 pts to 68,940. Hang Seng also rose 422 pts to 24,448.

Kospi rose 350 pts to 7642. Chip bellwethers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics were up 2.52% and 6%, respectively, 

Japan's government bonds and the yen rallied after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government would examine measures to encourage domestic pension funds, including the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), to increase their investments in Japanese financial assets.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said, " Brent crude declined 3% in a day and global stock markets have completely ignored the renewed tensions. This confident message from the market is significant. But investors have to be cautious, warranting monitoring of the developments.  From the domestic perspective, there are no major headwinds for the economy now. Stock markets will reflect this economic resilience and will respond positively to positive news from sectors and companies.  Broadly, financials and automobiles  will remain strong anticipating good Q1 numbers. Select pharmaceuticals and digital platform companies are exhibiting strength, indicating good Q1 numbers. In these segments there are buy on dips opportunities."

Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research at HDFC Securities said, "US equity markets finished higher on Thursday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbing 1.3% to reach 26,206. A significant rally in semiconductor stocks, including major gains for Micron and SanDisk, helped the broader market recover from previous volatility. South Korean memory giant SK Hynix priced its U.S. ADR offering at $149 per share on Thursday, set to raise approximately $28 billion in one of the year's largest listings. Demand ran at 7 times the shares available, fueled by the company's dominant 58% share of the global market and surging AI-driven chip demand, which has made memory a focal point for semiconductor investors."