Sensex climbs 1,685 pts, media shares advance

The domestic equity benchmarks traded with robust gains in the afternoon, tracking a global market rally amid hopes of easing Middle East tensions involving Iran. Sentiment improved after Donald Trump said the conflict could end within three weeks, while Iran signaled willingness to resolve the crisis.

The positive geopolitical cues boosted investor confidence across regions. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar remained under pressure and Treasury prices continued to rise. Additionally, the start of a new month, quarter, financial year, and F&O series supported fresh market positioning.

The Nifty marched above the 22,800 level. Media shares rallied after declining in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:28 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, soared 1,684.60 points or 2.34% to 73,627.10. The Nifty 50 index zoomed 493.90 points or 2.20% to 22,828.20.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index jumped 2.98% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index surged 3.69%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 3,735 shares rose and 417 shares fell. A total of 121 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tanked 10.92% to 24.84. The Nifty 28 April 2026 futures were trading at 22,969.90, at a premium of 141.70 points as compared with the spot at 22,828.20.

The Nifty option chain for the 28 April 2026 expiry showed a maximum call OI of 41.9 lakh contracts at the 23,000 strike price. The maximum put OI of 51.2 lakh contracts was seen at 23,000 strike price.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Media index soared 4.03% to 1,312.75. The index dropped 3.76% in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

Network 18 Media & Investments (up 10.07%), Hathway Cable & Datacom (up 7.67%), Zee Entertainment Enterprises (up 5.7%), D B Corp (up 5.14%), Tips Music (up 4.28%), Prime Focus (up 4.13%), Saregama India (up 3.45%), PVR Inox (up 3.06%), Nazara Technologies (up 1.52%) and Sun TV Network (up 1.42%) advanced.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Ceinsys Tech climbed 12.24% after the company announced that it has received an acceptance letter worth Rs 41.26 crore from the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).

MTAR Technologies rallied 3.74% after the company announced that it has received a purchase order valued at $3,783,456 (Rs 35.56 crore) for the supply of various products for data centre infrastructure.

Power Mech Projects jumped 6.78% after the company announced that it had secured an order worth Rs 109.22 crore from Hindustan Zinc.