Sensex jumps nearly 790 points on buying in telecom, banking shares

Stock markets rose for the second consecutive day on Thursday (May 14, 2026) with the benchmark Sensex jumping by nearly 790 points in a volatile session, driven by value buying in telecom, pharma and private banking shares.

The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex jumped 789.74 points, or 1.06%, to close at 75,398.72. The index opened higher but slipped into negative territory in late morning deals. However, value buying in telecom and banking shares helped the barometer pare losses and later jump more than 1,000 points to a high of 75,681.88.

Extending gains to the second day, the 50-share National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE) Nifty climbed 277 points, or 1.18%, to finish at 23,689.60.

Among Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel emerged as the biggest gainer, rallying over 5% after the telecom carrier’s annual revenue crossed the ₹2 lakh crore mark for the first time.

Eternal rose by 3.32% while HDFC Bank advanced 2.67%, emerging as the major contributor to the Sensex gains. Adani Ports, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Trent, UltraTech Cement, ITC and State Bank of India were among the other gainers.

On the other hand, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki India ended lower.

“Indian equities staged a counterintuitive recovery from intraday lows and ended higher despite the rupee hitting a record low and crude remaining elevated,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd., said.

Investor confidence was bolstered in anticipation of potential government measures to mitigate INR weakness, including consideration of bond tax relief for foreign investors and potential tightening of the Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) to stem capital outflows, he added.

“Sentiment was further anchored by positive cues from the Trump-Xi summit, which raised hopes of expanding economic cooperation.

“Sectorally, while pharma and healthcare advanced owing to sectoral rotation, metals gained on higher metal prices and improving demand expectations from China. Conversely, the IT stocks extended their decline,” Mr. Nair said.

In Asian markets, ShanghaiStock Exchange (SSE) Composite index and Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark ended lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled flat. However, South Korea’s Kospi closed higher.

European equity markets traded in positive territory. Wall Street ended mostly higher on Wednesday (May 13, 2026).

Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, rose nearly 1% to $106.48 per barrel.

The rupee fell to a low of 95.73 against the US dollar due to high crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹4,703.15 crore on Wednesday (May 13, 2026), while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased stocks for ₹5,869.05 crore, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday (May 13, 2026), the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 49.74 points to settle at 74,608.98. The 50-share NSE edged higher by 33.05 points to end at 23,412.60.