Sensex rebounds 1,414 pts from day's low, closes 389 pts higher; Nifty gains 0.8%

The Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the second straight session on Monday amid late buying as Russia and Ukraine began talks at the Belarus border. The domestic markets opened lower today in line with global peers but staged a smart comeback to settle with solid gains, led by robust buying across metal, and oil & gas spaces.

The BSE Sensex fell over 1,000 points in the early deals, but rebounded strongly to settle the day at 56,247, up 389 points, or 0.7%. In a similar trend, the NSE Nifty slipped 302 points in intraday trade, before closing 136 points, or 0.8%, higher at 16,794.

In line with benchmark indices, the broader markets also settled with decent gains. The S&P BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 0.83% and 0.8%, respectively.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was positive, with 2,262 shares advancing out of a total of 3,866 traded stocks. As many as 1,430 shares declined and 174 were unchanged.

Oil&Gas, metal space lead rally

On the sectoral front, the majority of indices closed in positive terrain, while metal and oil and gas sectors gained the most.

The BSE Metal index was the best performer on the sectoral front with a 5.5% gain, led by Hindalco Industries, Jindal Steel and Power, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), National Aluminium Company, Vedanta and Hindustan Copper.

The BSE Oil & Gas index ended 2.48% higher, supported by gains in GAIL (India), Petronet LNG, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), Reliance Industries and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(HPCL), which rallied up to 7.5%.

The rate sensitive auto and bankex indices were among top losers amid fear that rally in crude prices would add inflationary pressure on the economy, which may prompt the Reserve Bank of India to roll back accommodative stance.

Top gainers and losers

The top gainer on the Sensex pack was Tata Steel, the country’s largest steel maker, which ended 6.61% higher on the BSE. The other notable gainers include Power Grid Corporation of India, Reliance Industries, Titan Company and NTPC, which surged up to 6%.

On the losing side, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories topped the chart by falling 2.81%. The other worst performers on the BSE Sensex pack were Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), which dropped in the range of 1.5-2%.

Asian stocks end mostly higher

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region closed mostly higher on Monday after the U.S., European and other Western countries imposed fresh harsh sanctions against Russia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index ended 0.2% higher, South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.84%, and Taiwan Weighted index added 0.33%.

Thailand’s SET Composite climbed 0.31%, Australia’s ASX 200 index surged 0.73%, and Indonesia Jakarta Composite rallied 1%.

In mainland China, both the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite ended 0.3% higher.

Bucking the trend, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 0.24%, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore plunged 1.6%.

European shares fall on Ukraine crisis

In the European market, stocks opened mostly lower amid escalated tensions at the Russia-Ukraine border. Germany’s DAX fell 2.35%, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index slipped 1.1%. France’s CAC index plunged 2.9%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 dropped 1.2%.