SENSEX, NIFTY50 snap three-day losing streak led by HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries

The Indian equity benchmarks snapped their three-day losing streak on Monday, March 16, on account of a short covering rally in the last hour of trade. For most part of the day, equity benchmarks traded in a broad range amid heightened volatility with SENSEX swinging in the band of 1,855 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 23,502 and low of 22,955.

The SENSEX ended 939 points or 1.26% higher at 75,502.85 and NIFTY50 index advanced 258 points or 1.11% to settle at 23,408.80 powered by gains in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, ITC, Ultratech Cement and Bajaj Finance.

Analysts said that short covering a day ahead of the weekly expiry of NIFTY50 futures and option contracts led to sharp uptick in the in the last hour of trade.

Meanwhile, brent crude was trading 1% higher after US President Donald Trump said that he has demanded that about seven countries send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, saying the US is negotiating with countries that are heavily reliant on Middle East crude to join a coalition to police the waterway.

Back home, eight of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended higher led by the NIFTY Auto index's 1.7% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, Metal, PSU Bank and private Bank indices also rose between 0.3% and 1.5%.

On the flip side, pharma, real estate, healthcare, oil & gas and media shares faced selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares also came off intraday lows but ended on a negative note. The NIFTY Smallcap 100 index declined 0.53% and NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.27% after falling as much as 2.32% and 1.91% each respectively.

Among the individual shares, ITI shares rose as much as 15%, its biggest intraday gain since January 6, 2025, to hit an intraday high of ₹279 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). On the BSE, ITI shares jumped as much as 15% on the back of spike in trading volumes.

Shares of IDBI Bank crashed as much as 16.46% to hit a low of ₹77 following news reports that the strategic sale of IDBI Bank has likely been scrapped. This is because the financial bids put in by potential buyers were below the reserve price, the news reports said.

Ultratech Cement was top gainer in NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 4.46% to close at ₹11,090. Grasim Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, Trent, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, JSW Steel and ITC also rose between 2% and 3.44%.

On the other hand, Bharat Electronics, Max Healthcare, Wipro, Coal India, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Labs, Sun Pharma and Shriram Finance were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,213 shares ended lower while 1,075 closed higher on the NSE.