Sensex, Nifty close higher in volatile trade as IT, oil shares recover

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex and Nifty closed higher in a highly volatile trade on Monday, riding on the back of a recovery in IT, oil and financial stocks after a two-day fall even as investors remained cautious ahead of the Union budget and policy announcement by the US Federal Reserve.

The 30-share Sensex recovered 169.51 points or 0.29 percent to settle at 59,500.41 as 17 of its constituents ended in the green. During the day, it rose by 313.34 points or 0.52 percent to 59,644.24.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 44.60 points or 0.25 percent to end at 17,648.95 as 29 of its stocks advanced. The index moved in a range of 17,709.15 to 17,405.55 during the day.

Shares of Adani group firms closed on a mixed note with flagship Adani Enterprises climbing 4.21 percent.

However, Adani Transmission dropped 14.91 percent, Adani Green by 20 percent, Adani Total Gas by 20 percent, Adani Power by 5 percent, and Adani Wilmar by 5 percent, a day after the group released a 413-page response to allegations of wrongdoing brought by a US-based short seller Hindenburg Research.

“The response by Adani had a mixed effect on the stock group and market. The saga is likely to continue as a hanging risk in the minds of the investors in the medium-term. Now the focus of the market will be on Budget and Fed policy,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“Volatility continued to be the order of the day, as benchmark Sensex gyrated nearly 1000 points intra-day before staging a smart comeback in late trades on selective buying. Two big events, the interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve and the Union Budget are keeping investors nervous,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Among Sensex stocks, Bajaj Finance rose the most by 4.61 percent on positive quarterly results. Ultratech Cement rose by 2.51 percent, Bajaj Finserv by 2.22 percent and NTPC by 1.53 percent.

IT stocks also recovered with HCL Tech rising by 1.85 percent, Infosys by 1.37 percent and TCS by 0.72 percent. Reliance Industries, Maruti, Wipro, M&M, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank also gained.

Among losers, Power Grid fell the most by 3.38 percent, IndusInd Bank by 2.56 percent, L&T by 2.11 percent, Tata Steel by 1.62 percent, HUL by 1.55 percent and Tata Motors by 0.45 percent.

State Bank of India and HDFC were also among the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge dipped 0.22 percent and smallcap index fell 0.10 percent.

Among sectoral indices, utilities slumped 5.74 percent, power declined 5.30 percent, oil & gas (4.06 percent), energy (3.12 percent), capital goods (1.30 percent) and metal (1.19 percent).

IT, teck, consumer durables, telecommunication, consumer discretionary and commodities were the winners.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul and Hong Kong ended lower, while Tokyo and Shanghai settled in the green.

European markets were trading lower during mid-session deals. Markets in the US had ended higher on Friday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.25 percent to USD 86.44 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 5,977.86 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.