NIFTY50 jumps 233 points, SENSEX crosses 78k on upbeat global cues; Auto and Consumer durables among top sectoral gainers

Indian equity benchmarks bounced back strongly on Tuesday, recovering from the previous session's sharp sell-off, as investors bought stocks at lower prices amid improving global sentiments. Markets made a positive start, as traders took support from a nearly 10% drop in global crude oil prices amid signs of a possible easing of oil sanctions and comments from U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that the Iran war could end soon. In the afternoon session, the markets extended their gains and closed near the day’s high points.

Traders took support with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stating that the nine free trade agreements (FTAs) finalised by India in the last four years will provide huge business opportunities for the domestic pharma and healthcare sectors.

RBI pumps ₹50,000 crore into banking system through OMO Purchases: Traders took note of the report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has injected ₹50,000 crore into the banking system through Open Market Operation (OMO) purchases of government securities.

Sentiments remained upbeat as the Association of Mutual Funds of India’s (AMFI) report showed a 8% month on month growth in equity mutual fund inflows in February.

On the global front, European equity markets traded in the green, while Asian markets ended higher, as sentiments improved after tensions surrounding the US-Iran conflict appeared to ease, following comments by US President Donald Trump indicating that the war was largely ‘very complete’. Optimism was further supported by reports that Washington could consider easing sanctions on Russian energy.

The SENSEX ended at 78205.98, up by 639.82 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 77745.47 and 78526.25. 24 stocks were advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 2.93%, Consumer Durables up by 2.60%, Consumer Disc up by 2.07%, Basic Materials up by 1.74% and Bankex up by 1.73%, while TECK down by 0.54%, IT down by 0.25%, Oil & Gas down by 0.21% and Energy down by 0.16% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.67%, Interglobe Aviation up by 3.21%, Asian Paints up by 3.13%, Maruti Suzuki up by 2.94% and ICICI Bank up by 2.79%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.40%, Eternal down by 1.24%, Reliance Industries down by 0.91%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.61% and TCS down by 0.50% were the top losers. (Provisional)

The NIFTY50 ended at 24261.60, up by 233.55 points or 0.97% after trading in a range of 24079.95 and 24303.80. 41 stocks were advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index. (Provisional)

The top gainers on Nifty were Shriram Finance up by 7.67%, Tata Motors Passenger up by 3.98%, Eicher Motors up by 3.72%, Interglobe Aviation up by 3.39% and Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.33%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.41%, Eternal down by 1.28%, Reliance Industries down by 1.07%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.87% and ONGC down by 0.59% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher; Germany’s DAX gained 523.63 points or 2.24% to 23,933.00, France’s CAC rose 138.04 points or 1.74% to 8,053.40 and the UK’s FTSE 100 increased 161.9 points or 1.58% to 10,411.42.