The Sensex and Nifty opened sharply higher on Wednesday, with the Sensex up 657.85 points, or 0.85 per cent, at 77,423.77, and the Nifty 50 gaining 191.3 points to 24,176.65 — a session investors and founders tracking exit and fundraising windows will be watching closely.

Infosys led the gains with a 3.89 per cent rise, while L&T, TCS, Hindustan Unilever and Tech Mahindra also advanced, underscoring how IT services stocks continue to act as a bellwether for broader market sentiment.

The Nifty IT index climbed as much as 2.51 per cent and the Nifty FMCG index rose 1.52 per cent, even as several Asian markets traded lower on the same day.

On the downside, Power Grid was the top loser at 0.67 per cent, with InterGlobe Aviation, Asian Paints, Maruti and Titan also slipping in early trade.

Market breadth was strongly in favour of buyers, with 1,837 advancing stocks against 550 decliners and 103 unchanged on the BSE — a signal of broad-based rather than narrowly concentrated buying.

The rally coincided with a rebound in crude oil prices after a roughly 14 per cent slide over three sessions tied to escalating US-Iran tensions, a factor with direct cost implications for import-dependent Indian businesses.

Institutional flows turned supportive too, with foreign institutional investors buying ₹755.33 crore and domestic institutional investors purchasing ₹1,664.16 crore worth of shares on July 28.

Investors and founders alike are watching the US Federal Reserve’s policy decision due later in the day, given its knock-on effect on global liquidity and, by extension, funding conditions for growth-stage companies.

Wednesday’s gains follow Tuesday’s flat close, when the Sensex settled at 76,765.92 and the Nifty at 23,985.35 amid a fragile pause in US-Iran hostilities.

Market watchers said the rebound in crude oil, after three straight sessions of sharp declines, had eased some of the concerns that had weighed on Indian equities earlier in the week amid the ongoing US-Iran tensions.

(Image: “BSE building at Dalal Street” by BSEINDIA, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)