The benchmark indices closed higher on Monday after three consecutive sessions of losses.

Market opened on a positive note despite mixed global cues, but soon slipped into the red during the morning trade. Indices erased early losses to close higher, supported by metals, banks and oil & gas stocks. 

The BSE Sensex closed at 57,593.49, up 231.29 points or 0.40 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 57,638.34 and a low of 56,825.09. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,222.00, up 69.00 points or 0.4 per cent, near the day’s high of 17,235.10. It recorded an intraday low of 17,003.90.

Over 2,300 stocks decline

The market breadth, however, continued to remain in favour of the decliners with 2,334 stocks declining on the BSE as against 1,174 that advanced, while 156 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 21 stocks hit the upper circuit compared to the five stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 161 stocks touched a 52-week high and 87 touched a 52-week low.

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities said, “Benchmark Indices reversed early morning losses on positive global cues and hopes of RBI opting for status quo at its policy meet scheduled during first week of April.”

“The resumption of international flights energised hospitality stocks while the ongoing consolidation in the Media sector and positive tailwinds in the Telecom space lent ammunition to the Bulls despite an unfavourable Advance-Decline ratio,” Ranganathan added.

Mitul Shah, Head Of Research at Reliance Securities said, “Domestic equities gained despite no significant achievements in the Ukraine-Russia talks, as the countries enter the 2nd month of the conflict. Moreover, China’s financial hub Shanghai re-imposed Covid lockdown amid rising cases, as investors fear that the 2-year old virus may threaten global economic activity once again.”

“The Russia-Ukraine conflict and inflationary pressures are assessing the market sentiment. Oil prices continue to be volatile as the markets around the world witness the developments of the war, which is disrupting shipping and air freight. Market may remain unsteady until the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.  However, over near term, war issue and sanctions on Russian products would have high negative bearings on global and Indian equities,” said Shah.

Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Axis Bank, Eicher Motors and ICICI Bank were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while UPL, SBI Life, Nestle India, HDFC an HDFC Life were the top losers.

Consumer durables, IT, pharma drag

On the sectoral front, a majority of indices closed in the green. While banks, metals, auto and oil & gas gained, consumer durables, pharma and IT dragged.

Nifty Bank, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty PSU Bank closed 0.85 per cent, 0.70 per cent and 1.22 per cent higher, respectively. Nifty Metal was up 0.91 per cent while the Nifty Oil & Gas was up 0.90 per cent. Nifty Auto was up 0.65 per cent.

Meanwhile, Nifty Consumer Durables was down nearly 1 per cent. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare Index were down 0.33 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively. Nifty IT was down 0.35 per cent.

Broader indices

Broader market remained under pressure with major indices closing in the red.

Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.51 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.79 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 0.40 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.53 per cent.

The volatility index softened 3.49 per cent to 22.61.

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