Market Wrap, March 3: Sensex snaps 7-day losing streak, gains 480 pts

After seven consecutive sessions of sell-off, equity market found some solace on Tuesday as positive global cues and hopes of stimulus to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak helped benchmark indices settle in the green. 

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied 480 points or 1.26 per cent to settle at 38,623.70 while NSE's Nifty50 ended at 11,303, up 170.5 points or 1.53 per cent. Drug major Sun Pharma ended as the biggest gainer on the Sensex with over 6.5 per cent gains. Tata Steel, ONGC and UltraTech Cement were the other top gainers on the index. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index gained 259 points or 1.79 per cent to 4,764 while the S&P BSE SmallCap index surged 170 points or 1.25 per cent to end at 13,774 points. 

Volatility index India VIX declined 2.6 per cent to 24.54 levels.

Sectorally, metal and pharma stocks gained the most. Nifty Metal index climbed 5.6 per cent to 2,321 levels while Nifty Pharma index ended at 7,921, up over 5 per cent. That said, all the sectoral indices on the NSE ended in the positive zone. 

Shares of Deepak Nitrite continued their upward journey, surging 6 per cent to hit a new high of Rs 537, on the BSE on Tuesday on expectation that the strong run of earnings growth will continue despite the tailwinds. 

Global Markets 

Global shares and oil prices extended their rebound on Tuesday as policymakers indicated their willingness to move to ease the economic fallout from the coronavirus, while investors waited for a conference call by Group of Seven heads for trading cues. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.4 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei lost steam and fell 0.7 per cent after short-covering ran its course and as the yen firmed on the dollar.

Oil prices bounced back further after a jump of more than 4 per cent on Monday, reversing an early decline to multi-year lows.

Read by: Sukanya Roy