Final Trade: Sensex soars over 900 points; Nifty reclaims 24,500 as all sectors rally; India VIX drops 7%

Indian stock markets rallied on Wednesday, fueled by optimism surrounding a potential second term for Republican candidate Donald Trump. Although the final US election results remain uncertain, investor sentiment surged, propelling both the Sensex and Nifty to new highs. The BSE Sensex closed with a gain of 901.50 points, or 1.13 per cent, ending at 80,378.13, while the NSE Nifty rose by 270.70 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 24,484.00.

The rally was broad-based, with all 13 major sectoral indices closing in the green. The IT sector led the charge, gaining 4 per cent on the day. Other strong performers included the oil & gas, power, capital goods, and realty sectors, each up by approximately 2 per cent. Midcap and smallcap stocks also saw substantial gains, with the BSE Midcap index up over 2 per cent and the Smallcap index close to a 2 per cent rise.

On the Nifty, top gainers included Bharat Electronics, Adani Enterprises, TCS, Tech Mahindra, and Infosys, as tech stocks surged amid a favourable macroeconomic backdrop. Conversely, notable laggards were SBI Life Insurance, Titan Company, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Life, and HUL, though their declines were moderate.

Vinod Nair from Geojit Financial Services noted a "relief rally" in global markets post-US election results, driven by reduced political uncertainty as Trump secured a strong mandate. He highlighted broad-based domestic buying, with IT stocks leading, boosted by anticipated growth in US IT and BFSI spending—a positive signal for Indian firms.

Market volatility also eased, with the India VIX—an indicator of market fear—cooling by over 7 per cent.