Sensex jumps about 2,000 points to close at 79,310 as crude falls and US midterm results land

The Sensex jumped about 2,009 points to close at 79,310 and the Nifty 50 rose over 576 points to end at 24,537 on Thursday, 5 November, according to The Economic Times. ABP Live gives 2,008 points and 24,536 at the 3:30 pm close. This piece is as of the evening of 5 November.

The move

The Economic Times says the gains added more than Rs 8 lakh crore to the market capitalisation of companies listed on BSE, taking it above Rs 500 lakh crore for the first time. It reports that Nifty Auto and Nifty Financial Services gained 4% each, and that NSE saw 2,547 advances against 1,084 declines. ABP Live lists Bajaj Finance, IndiGo, ICICI Bank, Maruti and Mahindra and Mahindra among the Sensex's top gainers and Bharti Airtel, PowerGrid, ITC, Adani Ports and Bharat Electronics among the laggards. It also says the benchmarks gained more than 8% over six sessions, their longest winning streak in a year; Mint, in a report published before the close, cites about 5.6% over five sessions. The Times of India says Wednesday's close of 77,301 was the highest in more than two months.

What outlets say drove it

The Economic Times calls the drop in crude, below $95 a barrel after several weeks above $100, "perhaps the biggest factor", and says hopes of a resolution of the Middle East conflict rose after the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress. Mint says investors cheered the Democrats' midterm win, betting it could hasten the end of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and that Brent hit a two-month low. The Times of India adds renewed foreign investor buying and quotes Brent futures at $94.12 and WTI at $87.51 in early trade. ABP Live says continued foreign inflows and strong global cues also contributed.

Analyst view

Mint quotes V K Vijayakumar of Geojit Investments as saying the trend is set to continue, citing a sharp fall in Brent to around $94. He added that after the initial reaction to the US results weakens, there will be concerns about prolonged political conflict in the US.