Market Wrap, March 6: SENSEX, NIFTY50 rally for second session; broader indices soar too, 17 stocks hit 52-week high

The equity benchmark indices on Thursday, March 6, extended their gains for the second straight session, supported by the small-cap index and positive global cues. Rally in the metal and oil and gas sectors also boosted the markets.

Investors’ sentiment also boosted amid reports on likely easing of trade tensions between the US and major trading partners.

At close, the S&P BSE SENSEX stood at 74,340.09, jumping 609.86 points, or 0.83%, while the NSE's NIFTY50 index ended at 22,544.70, surging 207.40 points, or 0.93%.

The 50-share Nifty50 closed the session at a 2-week high. It has gained 2.5% since Tuesday’s closing. The Sensex has, however, jumped 2.6% since closing on March 4.

Market breadth was largely in favour of positives, as 2,207 stocks advanced on the NSE out of 2,996 stocks traded during the session.

Meanwhile, the broader market closed positive, outperforming the benchmark indices.

The market optimism was also supported by the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) announcement on Wednesday to inject liquidity into the banking system, including open market operation (OMO) purchase auctions worth ₹1 lakh crore and a USD/INR buy/sell swap auction of $10 billion.

The central bank said it will conduct two OMO purchase auctions of Government of India securities in tranches of ₹50,000 crore each on March 12 and March 18.

Globally, Wall Street's main indexes finished higher in choppy trading. US President Donald Trump announced a one-month exemption on auto tariffs on Canada and Mexico.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 485.60 points, or 1.14%, to 43,006.59; the S&P 500 gained 64.48 points, or 1.12%, to 5,842.63; and the Nasdaq Composite gained 267.57 points, or 1.46%, to 18,552.73.

Consequently, Asian markets were mostly in green; Hang Seng advanced 670.51 points or 2.84% to 24,264.72, Jakarta Composite gained 107.32 points or 1.62% to 6,638.72, Shanghai Composite strengthened 36.52 points or 1.09% to 3,378.48, Straits Times rose 24.12 points or 0.62% to 3,922.52, KOSPI increased 10.76 points or 0.42% to 2,568.89 and Nikkei 225 surged 288.59 points or 0.77% to 37,706.83, while Taiwan Weighted lost 156.47 points or 0.69% to 22,715.43.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,895.04 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

As many as 2,996 stocks traded on the NSE on Thursday. Out of this, 2,207 advanced and only 716 stocks declined, while 73 scrips remained unchanged.

A total of 17 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 53 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 290 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 124 touched their lower circuit bands on Thursday.

India VIX, the volatility gauge, stood at 13.73 levels, rising 0.40%.

The broader market continued with its rally and outperformed the main indices again on Thursday. Nifty Midcap 100 settled 0.37% higher at 49,348.10 while Nifty Smallcap 100 rallied 1.32% to 15,400.35 level.

Except for Nifty Midsmall IT & Telecom (-0.25%) and Nifty Realty (0.17%), all the other sectoral gauges ended positive. Nifty Oil and Gas (2.59%), Nifty Metal (2.34%), Nifty Pharma (1.47%), Nifty Healthcare index (1.24%) and Nifty FMCG (1.19%) were the most gaining sectors on Thursday.

As many as 38 stocks on the NIFTY50 index traded positive, while the only 12 closed in red. The biggest contributors on the index were Asian Paints, Coal India, BPCL, Hindalco and Reliance Industries, climbing as much as 4.75%.

On the flip side, Tech Mahindra, Trent, Bharat Electronics, Britannia and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the top losers, declining as much as 2.35% on the 50-share index.

Shares of Asian Paints settled at ₹2,267 apiece on NSE, surging 4.75%. It was one of the biggest contributors on the 50-share index.

The FMGC giant informed the stock exchanges at 2:35 pm on Thursday that its ED & CEO Rajneet Singh Kohli has submitted his resignation from the post on March 5, 2025, to pursue an opportunity outside Britannia.

The scrip settled at ₹244.90 per share, jumping 10.15% on the NSE.