Sensex Soars 2,009 Points to a Six-Month High as Nifty Tops 24,500 in the Best Day in Seven Months

Indian stocks recorded their biggest one-day gain in seven months on Thursday, November 5, 2026, extending their winning run to a sixth straight session as lower crude oil prices, strong foreign buying and gains on Wall Street after the U.S. midterm elections lifted banks, financial companies and automakers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, according to The Hindu. During the session it climbed as much as 2,168.63 points, or 2.80%, to 79,470.03. The NSE Nifty 50 gained 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Markets closed at 3:30 p.m. India time, or 5:00 a.m. ET.

The Sensex finished at its highest level since April 21, while the Nifty reached a three-month high, The Indian Express reported. On Wednesday, the Sensex had closed at 77,301.40 and the Nifty at 23,960.60.

Six-session rally

Over the past six sessions, the Sensex has gained 6,063.98 points, or 8.27%, and the Nifty has risen 1,837.75 points, or 8%, The Hindu reported. Reuters, in a report published by Business Recorder, said it was the longest winning run for the indexes in a year. Even after the rally, the Nifty 50 and the Sensex were still down 6.1% and 6.9%, respectively, for 2026, according to Reuters.

Reuters said the gains came as oil prices fell after Democrats won control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress and as a global shift away from artificial intelligence trades raised hopes of stronger foreign inflows into India. Brent crude futures rose about 1% to $96 a barrel on Thursday after an 8.7% slide in the previous session to a two-month low.

"The US midterm verdict gave Indian equities fresh momentum, with the rally gathering pace on hopes that a more restrained Washington could pave the way for de-escalation in the Iran conflict and tariff policies," Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, told The Indian Express.

Banks, autos and oil-sensitive stocks lead

Financial and auto stocks each rose about 4%, and 14 of 16 major sectors advanced, according to Reuters. Among Sensex components, Bajaj Finance rallied 7.77%, InterGlobe Aviation gained 5.80%, ICICI Bank rose 5.29%, Maruti Suzuki added 5.28%, Mahindra & Mahindra climbed 5.15% and Bajaj Finserv advanced 4.66%, The Hindu reported. HDFC Bank rose 3.2%.

The Nifty Bank index jumped 1,860.05 points, or 3.33%, to 57,773.65, according to a post-market report from Mirae Asset Sharekhan. Information technology stocks gained 2.4%, Reuters said. In the broader market, small-cap and mid-cap stocks rose 0.6% and 1.9%, respectively.

Companies that benefit from lower oil prices also gained, with Asian Paints up 4.4%, according to Reuters. Upstream oil producers fell, with ONGC down 2.1% and Oil India down 4%.

Several stocks moved on quarterly results. Shares of BSE Ltd rose 5.23% to 3,790 rupees after its consolidated net profit for the September quarter rose 44.90% from a year earlier to 809.15 crore rupees, Sharekhan said. Lenskart Solutions gained 4.20% after reporting a 105.3% increase in profit to 232 crore rupees, and LG Electronics India advanced 5.02% after its standalone profit rose 25.66% to 489.34 crore rupees.

Foreign flows and the rupee

Foreign investors bought Indian shares worth 72.84 billion rupees ($769.65 million) on Wednesday, their largest single-day purchase since October 2025, according to provisional exchange data cited by Reuters. The Indian Express reported that foreign investors have bought more than $2.4 billion of Indian shares so far in November. Reuters said a record $29 billion in foreign outflows earlier this year had weighed on the rupee.

The rupee closed at 94.48 per U.S. dollar, compared with 94.64 on Wednesday, according to Sharekhan.

"For Indian equities, the immediate impact is likely to be more sentiment-driven than structural," Rajesh Singla, chief executive of Alpha AMC, told The Indian Express, adding that foreign flows, crude oil prices, currency movements and corporate earnings would remain the key factors for market direction.

Elsewhere in Asia on Thursday, South Korea's Kospi fell 5.28% and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.79%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 3.61% in its last hour of trading, CNBC reported.