New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) The Sensex witnessed a sharp rally of more than 1,300 points on Thursday after US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on trade tariffs for most countries, including India. The announcement lifted investor sentiment in the country, even as some Asian markets remained under pressure due to renewed trade war tensions between the US and China. The Sensex jumped 1,310.11 points, or 1.77 per cent, to close at 75,157.26. During the day, the index touched an intra-day high of 75,467.33, while it slipped up to 74,762.84. The Nifty also surged by 429.40 points, or 1.92 per cent, to settle at 22,828.55.

The Nifty faced resistance around the 21-EMA on the daily timeframe, leading to a close off the day’s high. “The trend appears bearish unless it decisively moves above 23,000, where significant open interest has been added. On the downside, support is placed at 22,750; a break below this level could intensify the bearish sentiment,” said Rupak De of LKP Securities. The market rally was broad-based as strong buying across sectors lifted investor sentiment. The BSE Midcap index gained 1.84 per cent, while the Smallcap index shot up by 3.04 per cent. All major sectoral indices closed in the green, with Metal, Energy, Pharma, Auto, and Banking stocks leading the gains. The Nifty Metal index was the top performer, rising over 4 per cent.

Out of the 50 stocks on the Nifty index, Hindalco led the gain with a rise of 6.52 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Coal India which were all up between 4.4 to 4.8 per cent. However, Asian markets painted a mixed picture. Japan’s Nikkei 225, South Korea’s KOSPI, and Singapore’s Straits Times ended in the red. This came after China retaliated against the US by announcing higher tariffs of up to 125 per cent on American goods, following Trump’s recent decision to raise tariffs on Chinese imports to an effective 145 per cent. “Despite the global uncertainty, Indian markets cheered the temporary relief in the global trade environment, driving a strong rally across sectors and market segments,” analyst noted. Rupee traded positive with strong gains of 0.70 at 86.00 per dollar, supported primarily by a weaker dollar index and a significant sentiment boost from the US decision to relax tariffs on Indian goods by 10 per cent for the next 90 days.

/IANS