Markets climb in early trade amid foreign fund inflows, buying in bank stocks

Sensex and Nifty rise on foreign fund inflows and bank stock buying, defying U.S. market slump.

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty climbed in early trade on Tuesday (April 22, 2025) as investors’ sentiment remained buoyant amid continuous foreign fund inflows and buying in blue-chip bank stocks.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 319.89 points to 79,728.39 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 76.1 points to 24,201.65.

From the Sensex firms, Eternal, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the biggest gainers, while IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Power Grid and Asian Paints were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹1,970.17 crore on Monday (April 20), according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) and Shanghai SSE Composite traded higher while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng quoted lower.

U.S. markets ended significantly lower on Monday (April 20). Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.55%, Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked 2.48% and S&P 500 slumped 2.36%

“During normal times, the correlation between the U.S. market, known as the ‘mother market’, and other markets is high. But these are abnormal times when the normal correlation need not hold. The U.S. market was rattled yesterday on news of potential Trump-Powell tensions impacting the independence of the Fed. Markets abhor this,” V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said.