Market Wrap, March 9: Here's all that happened in the markets today

Financial and IT counters heavy lifted the markets today, and managed to keep the equity markets in the green on Tuesday. The volatility gauge, India VIX, meanwhile, cooled-off 9 per cent by close and settled at 22.5 levels on the penultimate day of the weekly F&O expiry.

Most of the key sectoral indices on National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the day in the red with the Nifty Metal index down 2.5 per cent at close, followed by the Nifty PSU Bank, Pharma, Realty, Media, and Auto indices, down between 0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent. The Nifty Financial Services, Bank, and IT indices were the only gainers, up 2 per cent, 1.8 per cent, and 1 per cent, respectively.

Supported by gains in HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, HUL, and Bajaj Finance, the headline S&P BSE Sensex ended 584.4 points, or 1.16 per cent, higher at 51,025 levels. The index topped the 51,000-mark in the intra-day deals and hit a high of 51,112.

On the NSE, the Nifty50 closed near the 15,100-mark at 15,098 levels, up 142 points or 0.95 per cent. Around 23 stocks declined on the Nifty index, as against 27 stocks that advanced. Of these, BPCL, Tata Steel, GAIL, Indian Oil, Tata Motors, Power Grid, and Cipla were the top drags.

The broader markets were under pressure today with the S&P BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closing 0.6 per cent and 0.4 per cent down, respectively.

Among individual stocks, shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation dipped 6.4 per cent to Rs 437 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in intra-day trade on Tuesday after BPCL Trust for Investment in Shares sold up to 7 per cent of its stake in state-owned energy company through a block deal. The shares settled 4.5 per cent lower at Rs 445 on the NSE.

That apart, shares of Poly Medicure hit a new high of Rs 804 after rallying 11 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Tuesday. With today’s gain, the stock of the medical equipment company has surged 53 per cent over its qualified institutional placement (QIP) price of Rs 524 per share. By close, the stock had pared some gains and was quoting 4 per cent higher at Rs 756.

Lastly, shares of SBI Life Insurance gained 6.4 per cent to hit a 52-week high of Rs 984 on the BSE in intra-day trade an over 60 per cent growth in new business premiums in the month of February. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 954.65, touched on January 8, 2021. It hit a record high of Rs 1,030 on October 30, 2019.

In the primary market, the three-day issue of Easy Trip Planners was oversubscribed by 6.6 times till 4:10 PM on day 2 of the IPO.

Global markets
 

Asian stocks recovered from earlier losses lifted by firmer US equity futures and central bank comments aimed at soothing fears about rising inflation. A pullback in US bond yields also buoyed equity markets.

Japan's Nikkei rallied 1.02 per cent on Tuesday afternoon, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.10 per cent higher. Chinese blue chips added 0.03 per cent.

In Europe, however, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.1 per cent in early deals, with miners falling 1.9 per cent and automakers dropping 1 per cent. The German DAX also eased 0.3 per cent.

And before we close, here are the other top developments of the day:

>> Rating agency Crisil said today that India's gross domestic product is expected to grow by 11 per cent in Financial Year 2022. The agency said by the second half of the coming year, economic growth should reach pre-pandemic levels.

>> Equity mutual funds witnessed an outflow of Rs 10,468 crore in February, making it the eighth consecutive monthly withdrawal, with flexi cap category accounting for most of the outflow.

However, investors put in Rs 1,735 crore from debt mutual funds last month after pulling out Rs 33,409 crore in January. Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net outflow of Rs 1,843 crore across all segments during the period under review, compared to Rs 35,586 crore in January.

>> In a written reply, Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur tells Rajya Sabha that no recommendation has been made so far to bring petrol and diesel under the ambit of GST.