Mumbai, March 29 Benchmark indices closed higher for the second consecutive session on Tuesday.

The market opened on a positive note, tracking firm global cues as a fall in crude prices and the hopes of progress amid Russia-Ukraine peace talks aided investor sentiments. Indices extended gains through the day, witnessing buying activity across multiple counters. 

The BSE Sensex closed at 57,943.65, up 350.16 points or 0.61 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 58,001.53 and a low of 57,639.35. The Nifty 50 closed at 17,325.30, up 103.30 points or 0.6 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 17,343.65 and a low of 17,235.70.

Breadth favours decliners

The market breadth continued to remain in favour of the decliners with 1,974 stocks declining on the BSE against 1,435 that advanced, while 108 remained unchanged. Furthermore, 18 stocks hit the upper circuit compared to the six stocks that were locked in the lower circuit. Besides, 129 stocks touched a 52-week high level and 106 touched a 52-week low.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, “Reports of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine along with weakening crude prices helped the global markets to trade firm.”

“Gains in the Asian markets were led by Japanese shares as the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy to control rising yields. Crude prices are settling following the prospects of a peace talks and in expectation of lower demand from the Chinese market due to increased covid restrictions,” said Nair.

Eicher Motor, HDFC, Divi’s Lab, Adani Ports and JSW Steel were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, while Hero Motocorp, ONGC, Coal India, IOC and ITC were the top losers.

PSU Bank, Oil & Gas drag

On the sectoral front, a majority of the indices closed in the green. While financial services, pharma, consumer durables and realty gained, PSU Bank, oil & gas, auto and FMCG faced pressure.

Nifty Pharma closed 1.5 per cent higher. Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty Consumer Durables were each up over 1 per cent. Nifty Realty closed nearly 1 per cent higher. 

Meanwhile, Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.83 per cent while Nifty Oil & Gas was down 0.22 per cent. Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG were each down 0.05 per cent at closing.

Broader indices

As for broader indices, Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.37 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was down 0.28 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 0.66 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 0.63 per cent.

The volatility index softened 5.78 per cent to 21.30.

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