Market Wrap, March 24: Sensex up 693 pts, Nifty settles at 7,801

A day after registering its biggest one-day fall ever, the domestic equity market ended with mild gains on Tuesday amid positive global cues. Gains, however, were capped after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that an economic package was still underway even as she announced a slew of other measures, mainly with regard to regulatory compliance matters. 

Earlier, investor sentiment got a boost after the US Federal Reserve on Monday rolled out an array of measures to support the US economy, including purchases of corporate bonds. 

The S&P BSE Sensex today ended at 26,674, up 693 points or 2.67 per cent while NSE's Nifty50 closed the session at 7,801, up 191 points or 2.51 per cent. During the day, the 30-share Sensex hit a high and low of 27,462.87 and 25,638.90, respectively. IT major Infosys ended as the biggest gainer on the index with the gain of around 13 per cent after the company said the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded the investigation in the whistleblower allegations made last year, and that it does not anticipate any further action by the regulator. READ MORE

On the NSE, all sectoral indices but Nifty Realty ended in the green. Nifty IT topped the list with over 6 per cent gains to 11,865 levels, followed by Nifty FMCG and NIfty Pharma. Nifty Realty index, on the other hand, slipped 2 per cent to 170.65 levels. 

India VIX, the volatility index, cooled off around 14 per cent to 81.94 levels. 

In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 index ended with over 1 per cent gains at 11,110 while the Nifty SmallCap index slipped around 1 per cent to 3,340 levels. 

Global Markets

Asian stocks rallied on Tuesday as the US Federal Reserve’s promise of bottomless dollar funding eased painful strains in financial markets, even if it could not soften the immediate economic hit of the coronavirus.

European shares also attempted another rebound after slumping in the previous session.

In the commodity market, oil prices rose on hopes that the United States will reach a deal soon on a $2 trillion coronavirus aid package which could blunt the economic impact of the outbreak and in turn support oil demand.