Equity benchmarks climbed in early trade on Monday, bouncing back from a two-day sharp fall in the market.

The Nifty 50 index was down 0.36 per cent at 17,540.65 as of 11:03 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.29 per cent to 59,156.62.

Both the indexes swung between gains of 0.6 per cent and losses of 0.9 per cent, in step with the intraday trajectory of high-weightage financials, which is down 0.53 per cent, as of 11:03 a.m. IST. Financials had dragged the index over the previous two sessions.

From the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, NTPC, ITC, UltraTech Cement, State Bank of India, Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major winners.

Power Grid, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Titan, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, HDFC and HDFC Bank were among the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul and Hong Kong were trading lower, while Tokyo and Shanghai quoted in the green.

Also read: Rupee falls 10 paise to 81.69 against US dollar

Markets in the US had ended higher on Friday.

Adani stocks

Indian equities had tumbled to a three-month low on Friday, dragged by a short-seller attack on Adani group companies, which triggered a selloff in banks.

The group faces a critical session today with the secondary share sale of the flagship Adani Enterprises seeing only 1 per cent subscription on Friday.

“The markets will remain very volatile ahead of the budget,” Aishvarya Dadheech, director and fund manager at Ambit Asset Management said. Analysts also cited fears of a drawdown in financials on the back of the scathing report by Hindenburg Research that raised concerns about the books of Adani companies.

Adani Enterprises rose as much as 10 per cent before paring gains to advance 2.64 per cent and was among the top Nifty 50 gainers, while Adani Ports reversed the climb. ACC and Ambuja Cements pared the gains from earlier in the session to trade up marginally.

Also read:Adani stocks brace up on Adani’s response to Hindenburg

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17 per cent to $86.51 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth ₹5,977.86 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"During the week, interest-rate decisions from the Federal Reserve, Union Budget presentation, and the January automobile sales data would determine the mood of the markets," said Prashanth Tapse - Research Analyst, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW