Market Wrap, Feb 23: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Bulls were back in action on D-Street after a five-day hiatus as a decline of over 4 per cent in the past five sessions addressed investors' concern on the valuation front. That said, rise in Brent crude (now over $66 per barrel), bond yields, and concerns over commodity-induced inflation capped gains.
 

Among key indices, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed at 49,751 levels, up 7 points or 0.01 per cent. The index had surpasses the 50,000-mark in the intra-day trade and had hit a high of 50,327 on the BSE. 21 of the 30 constituents ended the day in the green with ONGC (up 5.6 per cent), IndusInd Bank (up 2.6 per cent), L&T (up 2 per cent), and UltraTech Cement (up 17 per cent) topping the list of gainers.

On the downside, Kotak Mahindra Bank (down 3.7 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (1.6 per cent), HDFC Bank (1.5 per cent), and Bajaj Auto (1.2 per cent) ended the day as top laggards.

Meanwhile, over 6 per cent gains in Tata Steel and Tata Motors each, and 5 per cent gains each in Hindalco, ONGC, and UPL helped the Nifty50 index close above the 14,700-mark at 14,708 levels, up 32 points or 0.22 per cent. The index hit a intra-day high of 14,854. 

In the broader markets, the Nifty MidCap 100 and SmallCap 100 indices settled with gains of about 1 per cent on the NSE.

On the sectoral front, only financial and select pharma stocks traded weak at the bourses today with the Nifty Private Bank and Financial Services indices dropping half a per cent at close. On the upside, the Nifty Metal index jumped 3.8 per cent while the Nifty Realty index closed 2.6 per cent at close.

Global markets
 

Asian shares rebounded from two-week lows on Tuesday as rising commodity prices boosted market expectations of an improved growth outlook, a day after rising US Treasury yields and inflation prospects hit US tech shares.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.4 per cent to 726.6, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index rose nearly 0.9 per cent, while Singapore's Straits Times index put on 0.6 per cent and Taiwan was up 0.2 per cent. That apart Hong Kong advanced 1 per cent but the tech-laden South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3 per cent.

Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.