Stock markets climb in early trade after Trump halts strikes on Iran

Stock market benchmark indices rallied in early trade on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump said he has halted fresh strikes on Iran at the request of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asserting that serious discussions were underway with Tehran that could lead to an acceptable deal.

Buying in frontline IT stocks, Adani group firms and foreign fund inflows also added to the positive trend in equities.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social on Monday late afternoon.

"I have been asked by the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday)," Trump said.

"We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow. I've put it off for a little while, hopefully, maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we've had very big discussions with Iran and we'll see what they amount to," Trump told reporters at the White House.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 366.71 points to 75,706.88 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 107.45 points to 23,760.

From the 30-Sensex firms, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Trent and InterGlobe Aviation were among the major winners.

UltraTech Cement, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan and Eternal were among the laggards.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 2 per cent lower at $109.9 per barrel.