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Markets magnify gains amid hopes of US-Iran negotiations
Mar-24-2026

Indian equity markets added more gains in late afternoon session after some reports indicated Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Supreme Leader of Iran, has agreed to negotiate with the United States (US) and reach an agreement. This has raised optimism among investors that the conflict in West Asia could over soon, reopening the transit through Striate of Hormuz. Further, Brent crude oil prices have cooled off to trade near $101 per barrel. Markets got support from some value buying as traders opted to pick up stocks at lower-level following yesterday’s sell off. Meanwhile, market participants have ignored the report that Indian private sector activity expanded in March with weakest pace since October 2022, with output growth easing across both manufacturing and services as the energy shock unfolds. the HSBC Flash India Manufacturing PMI declined from 56.9 in February to a four-and-a-half-year low of 53.8 in March, while HSBC Flash India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell to 57.2 in March from February’s final reading of 58.1. 

On global front, Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed strikes against Iran's power plants for five days. European equity markets were trading lower after services sector’ growth in euro area almost stalled in March. Eurozone Services PMI fell to 50.1 in March 2026 from 51.9 in February, below the estimates of 51.1.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 74152.44, up by 1456.05 points or 2.00% after trading in a range of 73084.46 and 74489.39. There were 27 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Industrials up by 3.11%, Consumer Discretionary up by 2.65%, Auto up by 2.64%, Bankex up by 2.56% and Consumer Durables up by 2.53%. Meanwhile, there were no gainers on BSE sectoral index.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.03%, Eternal up by 4.91%, Interglobe Aviation up by 4.76%, Asian Paints up by 4.54% and Ultratech Cement up by 4.43%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.70%, SBI down by 0.19% and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 0.13% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Crisil Intelligence in its latest report has said that the government's amendment to Press Note 3 (PN3) is likely to increase the share of Chinese funds in the overall foreign direct investments (FDI) attracted by India to over 2 per cent, the level it stood at before the Press Note 3. It said between 2014 and 2019, China, including Hong Kong, contributed about 2% of India's FDI, which contracted to 0.27 per cent after the introduction of new rules in Press Note 3. It said easing of PN3 norms is expected to unlock a pipeline of pending proposals, potentially driving a near-term uptick in inflows from China, including Hong Kong. The entity expects the government move to accelerate FDI inflows into India, strengthening its domestic capabilities and reducing reliance on imports. 

The report said the introduction of the time-bound 60-day approval window for specified manufacturing sectors, including capital goods, electronic capital goods, electronic components, polysilicon, and ingot-wafer, is set to simplify and expedite collaborations between Indian and Chinese firms in emerging sectors. Citing government data, it said government received investment proposals totaling Rs 75,691 crore under the tightened PN3 FDI rules and of these, only Rs 13,625 crore worth of proposals received approval. The proposals rejected formed approximately 5 per cent of the country's average annual FDI inflow over the past five years.

In order to curb opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government had amended the extant FDI Policy vide PN3(2020) dated April 17, 2020. The real impact of the amendment will be visible over the medium to long term, the report expecting an acceleration in technology partnerships, collaborations and mergers and acquisitions which will help India move up the value chain across sectors and become a key player in the global value chain.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 22948.05, up by 435.40 points or 1.93% after trading in a range of 22624.20 and 23057.30. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Larsen & Toubro up by 5.04%, Eternal up by 5.02%, Interglobe Aviation up by 4.74%, Asian Paints up by 4.52% and Ultratech Cement up by 4.38%. On the flip side, Coal India down by 2.78%, Power Grid Corporation down by 0.86%, SBI down by 0.21%, Cipla down by 0.13% and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries down by 0.03% were the top losers.

Asian equity markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 501.51 points or 0.96% to 52,017.00, Hang Seng advanced 676.53 points or 2.7% to 25,059.00, KOSPI increased 148.17 points or 2.67% to 5,553.92, Straits Times rose 26.91 points or 0.55% to 4,868.21 and Shanghai Composite strengthened 68 points or 1.75% to 3,881.28, while Taiwan Weighted lost 110.26 points or 0.34% to 32,612.24, Meanwhile, Indonesian market was close on account of holiday.

European equity markets were trading lower; UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 13.71 points or 0.14% to 9,880.44, France’s CAC fell 6.2 points or 0.08% to 7,720.00 and Germany’s DAX lost 142.06 points or 0.63% to 22,511.80.
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