Key indices pare early losses, end on positive note

♦    BSE Sensex tumbles 537 pts in early session

♦    Recovered in afternoon trade on positive global cues

♦    BSE Sensex climbed 231.29 pts to 57,593.49

♦    20 of Sensex pack closed with gains

♦    NSE Nifty recovered 69 pts to 17,222

♦    29 of Nifty-50 constituents in green

♦    Airtel top gainer

♦    Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, RIl among gainers

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty reversed early losses to close higher by 0.40 per cent on Monday helped by buying in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel amid gains in global equities.

After falling 537.11 points to a low of 56,825.09 in morning trade, the 30-share BSE barometer staged a recovery in afternoon trade and climbed 231.29 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 57,593.49. As many as 20 Sensex stocks closed with gains while 10 declined. The broader NSE Nifty recovered 69 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 17,222 with 29 of its constituents ending in green.

"Benchmark indices reversed early morning losses on positive global cues," according to S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP securities.

"Even though the Ukraine war and the consequent crude spike impacted markets initially, the war is not impacting markets much now. The major headwinds for markets in 2022 will continue to be the high US inflation and Fed tightening," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

"Markets once again witnessed sideways movement, but finally managed to end on a higher note because of sharp gains in banking and oil & gas stocks," said Shrikant Chouhan, head (equity research-retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

"Mixed global cues combined with a lack of any domestic trigger are causing volatile swings in the index. However, the rotational buying in select index majors is helping the benchmark to hold at higher levels," said Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd.