SENSEX, NIFTY50 rangebound; IT shares fall, auto stocks gain

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading in a tight range on Tuesday, 17th March as by weakness in information technology (IT) stocks was countered with buying in auto stocks. The SENSEX fell as much as 178 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,346 led by losses in index heavyweights like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, HCL Technologies, JDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance.

As of 9:34 am, the SENSEX was up 97 points at 75,600 and NIFTY50 index advanced 20 points to 23,426.

Asian shares were trading higher on Tuesday with Japan's Nikkei rising 0.5%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng advancing 1.15%, China's Shanghai Composite gaining 0.2% and South Korea's KOSPI rising 2.78%.

Markets are on edge, trying to price in the economic damage from U.S. President Donald Trump's war with Iran and the policy reaction it could trigger, news agency Reuters reported.

Overnight, US stocks ended higher on Monday as oil prices eased in the international markets. Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.8%, S&P 500 index rose 1.01% and tech heavy Nasdaq rose 1.22%.

Back home, buying interest was broad-based as 10 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by the NIFTY Auto index's 1.35% gain. NIFTY Metal, Pharma, Realty, Healthcare, Consumer Durables and Financial Services indices were also trading with a positive bias.

On the flip side, IT and select PSU banking shares were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were trading on a flat note with a positive bias as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.12% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.2%.

Among the individual shares, shares of Redington fell as much as 5.15% to ₹221 after the company shared its business update following the geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region.

Shares of Tata Motors Ltd (the commercial vehicle arm) advanced as much as 2.1% to ₹446.85 as the company on Monday announced a price increase of up to 1.5% across its commercial vehicle range, effective April 1, 2026.

Eternal was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 3% after reports suggested that the government started the supply of commercial LPG cylinders to hotels and restaurants.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, InterGlobe Aviation, Bharti Airtel, Shriram Finance and Bajaj Auto also rose between 1% and 2.2%.

On the flip side, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Adani Ports and Trent were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,761 shares were advancing while 998 were declining on the NSE.