MUMBAI: With the peace plan for West Asia moving ahead-though under clouds of uncertainty-investors around the world are slowly taking bets that the war would end soon. Most markets across the globe moved up, including in India. However, in early trades, the US markets were marginally lower. On Friday, although crude prices hovered around the $100/barrel level, sensex rallied 919 points to close over the 77.5k-points mark, largely supported by HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and RIL. On a weekly basis, this was the first positive close for sensex since the war between the US-Israel and Iran started on Feb 28. A noteworthy aspect of the day’s rally was the net inflow of Rs 672 crores by foreign funds into stocks, the first such daily figure since the war started. Between March 2 and April 9, foreign portfolio investors had net sold in every session, aggregating Rs 1.4 lakh crore, data showed. In Friday’s session, TCS, Infosys and some other tech stocks witnessed heavy selling as AI fears resurfaced. While TCS closed 2.5% lower, Infosys was down nearly 3% and Tech Mahindra closed 1.4% lower. The day’s rally added about Rs 6.4 lakh crore to investors’ wealth, with BSE’s market capitalisation now at Rs 451.2 lakh crore, a level it regained after more than a month.
