QUICK TAKE | Why the Sensex Crossed 80,000 on Dhanteras as Asian Markets Fell. Seven Things to Know

1. How high did the Sensex and Nifty go?

The Sensex reached 80,080.59 in early afternoon trade, up about 771 points from Thursday’s close of 79,310.01. The Nifty 50 touched 24,702.60, up 166 points from its previous close. Both were intraday levels.

2. Which stocks led the early gains?

Mahindra & Mahindra, Titan, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were among the early gainers. The Nifty IT index also rose 1.32% in the morning, even as investors were selling technology stocks elsewhere in Asia.

3. How much did foreign investors buy?

Foreign institutional investors bought a net ₹14,974.68 crore of Indian shares on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Domestic institutions sold a net ₹10,444.54 crore in the same session. The buying marked a sharp shift after foreign investors sold roughly ₹45,160 crore of Indian equities in October.

4. Why did cheaper oil help?

Brent fell below $100 a barrel on Thursday, when the Sensex climbed 2.60%. India imports much of the crude it uses. A sustained fall in oil prices can trim the import bill and ease inflation pressure, which helps explain why the move caught investors’ attention.

5. How steep was the sell-off elsewhere in Asia?

South Korea’s Kospi fell 8% and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 5% as the global tech sell-off spread, Reuters reported. Indian shares rose during the same stretch of trading, with private banks among the stocks helping lift the benchmarks.

6. Did smaller stocks join the rally?

At 1 pm, the Nifty Midcap 100 was down about 1% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 was down 1.7%. Across the Nifty 500, 384 stocks were down and 115 were up. The Sensex’s climb masked weakness across much of the market.

7. Was this Muhurat trading?

Dhanteras fell on a regular trading day. The NSE scheduled its separate Muhurat trading session for Sunday, November 8, on Diwali.