SENSEX swings in 800-point range, NIFTY50 above 25,150 after falling below 25,000; here is why

The Indian equity benchmarks were swinging in very wide range on Tuesday amid heightened volatility ahead of monthly expiry of index and stock futures and option contracts due later in the day. The SENSEX swung in a range of 811 points and NIFTY50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 25,150 after touching an intraday low of 24,932.

Gains in index heavyweights like Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Adani Ports, Ultratech Cement and Larsen & Toubro outweighed losses in Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries.

As of 10:36 am, the SENSEX was up 153 points at 81,680 and NIFTY50 index advanced 64 points to 25,112.

Volatility spiked in Tuesday's session as India VIX, the measure of market's expectation of volatility in NIFTY50 index, jumped nearly 9% to 15.45.

On the sectoral front, ten of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led but the NIFTY Metal index's over 2% gain. NIFTY PSU Bank, Pharma, Oil & Gas, IT, Financial Services and Bank indices also rose between 0.4%-1%.

On the flipside, auto stocks were facing selling pressure as NIFTY Auto index declined over 1% after reports suggested that government will cut import duty on cars from Europe to 40% from the current tariff rate of 110%.

Realty, media, FMCG and consumer durables were also facing selling pressure.

Broader markets also staged a recovery as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 1.35% from the day's lowest level and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index recovered 1.71% to hit an intraday high of 16,464.25.

Among the individual shares, Granules India shares rose as much as 4% to hit an intraday high of ₹587 after its net profit rose 28% to ₹150 crore from ₹118 crore in the year ago period.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

Axis Bank was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose over 5% to ₹1,323.90 after it reported a 4% growth in its December quarter net profit to ₹7,010.65 crore against ₹6,742.99 crore in the year-ago period.

On a standalone basis, the third-largest private-sector lender's net profit for the October-December period increased to ₹6,489.57 crore from ₹6,303.77 crore in the year-ago period.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, Ultratech Cement, Grasim and NTPC also rose between 2.2%-5%.

On the flipside, Kotak Mahindra Bank was top loser in the NIFY50 index, the stock fell as much as 5% after it reported a 4% increase in profit to ₹3,446 crore in the third quarter of current financial year.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Max Healthcare, Cipla, Eternal and Tata Motors were also among the losers.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,619 shares were declining while 1,321 were advancing on the NSE.