Indian stocks at 6-Wk highs as MidEast war recedes; Adani Group surges; oil falls

Dalal Street’s relief rally pulled Indian stocks to their highest since early March as the West Asian conflict eased into an extended ceasefire. Adani shares were top gainers while oil dipped further.

Twenty stocks from the 50-share benchmark Nifty have surged between 10-25 per cent so far in April. Among them are Adani Enterprises, Trent, Tata Motors, Adani Ports and Shriram Finance, to name a few. Nifty gained for a second week as rock bottom valuations attracted heavy buying.

Chirag Mehta, Chief Investment Officer at Quantum Asset Management said his value fund had purchased into frontline software companies as shares plunged to six-year lows.

"Valuations have become very attractive across the board: from large caps to small caps," Mehta said.

Stock prices have fattened in the past fortnight after hostilities between energy rich Iran and the US-Israeli militaries paused. US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire as peace talks morphed into face-to-face meetings. Surging oil prices, which triggered a global equity sell-off, fell 20 percent.

As a consequence, the last 10 sessions have witnessed a combination of buying frenzy and covering of short positions in the futures markets. Nifty has surged 2,200 points, or 9.9 per cent, to its highest since March 9 and Bank Nifty soared 13 per cent, or 6,500 points, to a multi-week peak.

Many indices topped these gains with the Metals index jumping 15 per cent and the Real Estate benchmark leaping 20 per cent as Corporate India took steps to safeguard margins.

The medium term looks better.

"Markets are likely to even higher from now on," Sharmila Joshi, a market expert, said. "The worst is behind us. Financial sector, metals, FMCG, pharma and capital goods sectors can do well."