Indian stock market ended with decent gains on Wednesday, May 7, shrugging off concerns over rising tensions between India and Pakistan. Benchmark Sensex opened nearly 700 points lower at 79,948.80 after India announced it carried out Operation Sindoor, which targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, but soon reversed quickly, rising over 200 points to an intraday high of 80,844.63.

The Sensex finally closed at 80,746.78, up 106 points, or 0.13 per cent. The NSE counterpart Nifty 50 settled at 24,414.40, up 35 points, or 0.14 per cent. The mid and small-cap segments outperformed significantly. The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 1.36 per cent and 1.16 per cent, respectively.

Thanks to healthy gains in the mid and small-cap indices, the overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to above ₹423 lakh crore from ₹421 lakh crore in the previous session, making investors richer by about ₹2 lakh crore in a single session.

Indian stock market: 10 key highlights from the day

Let’s take a look at 10 key highlights of the stock market today:

1. Why did the Indian stock market not fall despite escalating India-Pakistan tension?

The domestic market is exhibiting remarkable resilience due to healthy foreign capital inflow, favourable macro outlook and largely stable earnings.

Meanwhile, experts see little chance of a full-blown war between India and Pakistan as they highlight the non-escalatory nature of ‘Operation Sindoor’, which avoided attacking Pakistani military or strategic sites and hit only terror camps.

“The market’s biggest concern — the risk of a full-blown war — now appears to be behind us, which is providing a sense of relief. Additionally, there are no strong indications that Pakistan intends to escalate the situation further,” said Pankaj Pandey, the head of research at ICICI Securities.

“Indian equity markets exhibited strong resilience amid recent Indo-Pak border tensions, the measured market response indicated that geopolitical risks were largely priced in and expectations of de-escalation are prevailing among investors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments.

“The progress on the India–UK FTA further buoyed investor optimism, driving gains in key sectors such as textiles, automobiles, and information technology. Globally, investor sentiment has improved as the United States and China signal a willingness to resume trade negotiations. China’s recent interest rate cut contributed to a broadly positive tone across Asian markets,” said Nair.

2. Top gainers in Nifty 50

Shares of Tata Motors (up 5.18 per cent), Jio Financial Services (up 2.11 per cent) and Bajaj Finance (up 2.04 per cent) ended as the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index.

3. Top losers in the Nifty 50

Shares of Asian Paints (down 3.97 per cent), Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (down 2.10 per cent) and Bajaj Auto (down 1.26 per cent) closed as the top losers in the index. As many as 26 stocks ended lower in the Nifty pack.

4. Sectoral indices today

Nifty Auto index jumped 1.66 per cent, while Consumer Durables and Realty indices rose 1.18 and 1.12 per cent, respectively.

Nifty Bank index ended the day with a gain of 0.63 per cent, while the Financial Services index rose 0.76 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty FMCG (down 0.52 per cent), Healthcare (down 0.35 per cent) and Pharma (down 0.33 per cent) ended in the red.

Vodafone Idea (40.45 crore shares), YES Bank (14.08 crore shares) and Welspun Living (11.06 crore shares) were the most active stocks in terms of volume on the NSE.

6. 13 stocks jump more than 10% on NSE

Aarti Drugs, Bharat Seats, S. P. Apparels, Welspun Living and CCL Products were among the 13 stocks that surged more than 10 per cent on the NSE.

7. Three stocks crash 10% or more

Shares of Max India Ltd-RE (down 29.52 per cent), Oriental Trimex (down 11.46 per cent) and Ksolves India (down 10 per cent) crashed at least 10 per cent on NSE.

(This is a developing story. Please check back for fresh updates.)

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Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly, and circumstances may vary.