Sensex and Nifty Extend Rally to a Fifth Session as Media, Metals and Realty Lead

The Sensex closed about 384 points higher at roughly 77,300 on Wednesday, 4 November, extending its winning streak to five sessions. The Nifty 50 added about 150 points to finish near 23,960, a gain of roughly 0.6%. The rally has come on the back of a sharp pullback in crude oil, which is easing one of the biggest worries for Indian equities this year.

What happened

Broad buying lifted the benchmarks. Media, metal, realty and FMCG stocks led the gains, while the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 also closed higher, a sign that the move was not confined to a handful of heavyweights. Nifty IT was the only sector to finish meaningfully lower, falling by more than 1%. The session was steady rather than explosive, which suggests traders were taking the lower oil price as a reason to add risk without chasing the market higher.

The backdrop was the US midterm election, which was being watched closely by global investors, and the continued fall in Brent crude from recent highs. Sources agree on the closing levels, though the exact percentage gains differ slightly by how each outlet rounds.

Why it matters for traders

• Oil is the swing factor. India imports most of its crude, so a cheaper barrel helps the current account, inflation and the margins of oil marketing companies, paint makers, tyre makers and airlines.
• Breadth is better than the index suggests. Midcaps and smallcaps rising alongside the Nifty points to broader participation, not only a few large stocks carrying the index.
• IT is the laggard. Sector rotation out of technology is visible here, the same pattern seen in global markets where tech has been under pressure.
• A five-day run raises short-term risk. Winning streaks can reverse quickly, so position sizing matters more when momentum looks stretched.

What to watch

Traders will look at whether the Nifty holds above the 23,600 area that has acted as near-term support in recent sessions, and whether crude stays below its recent highs. Quarterly results from heavyweight banks and consumer companies will also be read for signs of demand, especially in the festive season. Any change in the tone of US-Iran talks would feed directly into oil and, through it, into Indian sentiment.

Educational content, not investment advice. Practise trading Indian index moves risk-free in the Trading Titans paper trading app.