Benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex held firm gains on the afternoon of June 16, buoyed by a sharp rebound in key sectoral indices. IT and oil & gas stocks led the rally, while midcaps tracked the uptrend to move higher. The smallcap index also staged a strong recovery, erasing early losses of nearly 1 percent to trade flat.

At noon, the Sensex was up 549.10 points or 0.68 percent at 81,667.70, and the Nifty was up 176.00 points or 0.71 percent at 24,894.60. About 1287 shares advanced, 2131 shares declined, and 166 shares were unchanged.

"Interestingly, there is no panic in equity markets. Markets will be severely impacted only if Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a huge spike in crude. This appears to be a low probability event now," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, said. "The market scenario characterised by sustained retail buying and fund flows into mutual funds will ensure valuations remain high for an extended period. Therefore, long-term investors can use this risk-off scenario to buy relatively attractively valued stocks like financials," he added.

Sectoral indices on the NSE traded largely in the green on June 16. Nifty IT led the gains with a 1.37 percent rise, followed by Infra, Metal, and Oil & Gas, which advanced 0.85 percent, 0.64 percent, and 0.56 percent, respectively. Private Bank, Energy, FMCG, and Auto indices also posted steady gains. The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.33 percent, while the Smallcap 100 inched up 0.05 percent. Consumer Durables, Media, and Realty saw modest upticks as well. On the downside, Pharma and PSU Bank indices slipped marginally. India VIX declined 2.12 percent to 14.76, pointing to lower market volatility.

As for Individual stocks, Tata Motors slid as much as 5 percent after Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), its UK-based luxury arm, flagged weak free cash flow expectations and a slew of macro risks in its latest investor presentation. JLR said it expects free cash flow to be “close to zero” in FY26, even as it remains committed to its investment plans and aims to maintain EBIT margins in the range of 5–7 percent.

Shares of Indraprastha Gas Ltd rose over 3 percent after Hindustan Times reported that the Delhi Government is likely to revise its Electric Vehicles policy, easing the deadline to transition from petrol and gas-powered vehicles in the process. The report added that the government may also revise the cab aggregator and delivery service policy, along with relaxing the EV transition timeline and place a cap on surge pricing.

Sterlite Technologies jumped up to 11 percent after the company announced an expansion of its data centre portfolio to cater to growing AI infrastructure needs. In a filing, the company said it has launched next-gen solutions, ranging from cabling to full-stack connectivity, tailored for AI-led data centres. Sterlite also cited industry projections, estimating the global data centre market will touch $517 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 10.5 percent.

"Technically speaking, we have been highlighting that 24462 remains a critical support level that bulls have to defend - and even with Friday's early session drop, this level held. More importantly, the rebound led to the formation of a bullish "belt hold line" which is the same bullish pattern that caught the early April lows," Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities said. "The battle lines are clear - bulls need to keep 24462 intact and give us a daily close above 24826, while bears need to protect this resistance level to have any chance of pushing the market lower. Risk assets are in the green this morning, not by much, but the fact that the weekend escalation hasn't seen another opening slump is an indication that investors expect the crisis to de-escalate," he added.

HDFC Life Insurance, ONGC, Cipla, Tent, and SBI Life Insurance were the top gainers on the Nifty. Laggards on the index included Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, SBI, and Adani Ports.

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