Sensex Gains 374, Nifty Flat Amid Middle East Peace Hopes

Imagine a huge scoreboard that tracks how much India's biggest companies are worth—that is the stock market.

On Thursday, one part of that scoreboard, the Sensex, went up by about 374 points, which pleased many investors.

Another part, called the Nifty, barely moved and ended almost the same as before.

People were being careful with their money because they were waiting for news about peace in the Middle East.

There has been tension between the United States and Iran for about five months.

Now, Iran is in the final stage of writing an agreement with its neighbour Oman to reopen a very important water route called the Strait of Hormuz.

Many oil ships sail through that route, and oil is used to make fuel for cars, planes and homes.

Because peace talks seemed to be going well, worries about oil being blocked grew smaller.

Crude oil prices, which had fallen for three days in a row, became steady.

So the markets mostly waited quietly, hopeful but cautious, to see whether the agreement would really bring lasting peace.