By Bharath Rajeswaran
(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks rose on Monday, aided by persistent foreign buying amid hopes of a U.S. trade deal, while a drop in oil prices helped buoy energy-related stocks.
The Nifty 50 closed up 0.47% at 24,461.15 and the BSE Sensex gained 0.37% to 80,796.84.
“Optimism prevails in the market over potential India-U.S. trade deal, sustained foreign fund inflows while falling crude prices powered oil and gas stocks,” said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research of wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
The benchmarks logged their longest weekly winning streak so far in 2025 on Friday, helped by renewed optimism over a potential India-U.S. trade deal.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) scooped up shares worth 401.47 billion rupees ($4.8 billion) over the last 12 sessions – the longest streak in two years.
The oil and gas index rose 1.7%, boosted by lower oil prices after OPEC+ decided over the weekend to speed up oil supply hikes. [O/R]
Shares of state-run oil refiners BPCL, Indian Oil and HPCL climbed 3.2%, 3.7% and 6.4%, respectively.
Refiners benefit from lower oil prices as it can help control their raw material expenses.
Meanwhile, Mahindra & Mahindra rose 3.3%, powering auto index 1.9% higher, after it reported March-quarter revenue above analysts’ estimates, helped by strong demand for its sports utility vehicles.
Additionally, Adani Group stocks rose after Bloomberg News reported that representatives of billionaire Gautam Adani met U.S. government officials to seek a dismissal of criminal charges in an overseas bribery probe.
Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports – the two group stocks on the Nifty 50 – rose 7% and 6.3%, respectively.
On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 4.6% after it reported a larger-than-expected drop in profit as provisions for bad loans surged.
The broader small- and mid-caps gained about 1% and 1.8%, respectively.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Sonia Cheema and Varun H K)
