Recovery continues on Ukraine's softening tone

Mumbai: Extending the gains for a second day, key stock indices Sensex and Nifty jumped by more than two per cent on Wednesday as oil and energy, financials and IT stocks advanced amid reports of diplomatic efforts to end Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The benchmark BSE Sensex opened in the green and further jumped 1,469.64 points or 2.75 per cent to 54,893.73 during the day. It finally settled at 54,647.33, higher by 1,223.24 points or 2.29 per cent, notching up the biggest single-day gain since February 25. The broader Nifty of the NSE climbed 331.90 points or 2.07 per cent to end at 16,345.35 as 40 of its stocks advanced. New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) Equity investors became richer by over Rs 7.21 lakh crore as stock markets continued the rally for the second day on Wednesday. Market capitalisation (mcp) of BSE-listed companies jumped by Rs7,21,949.74 crore to Rs2,48,32,780.78 crore in two days.

"D-Street bulls finally held the upper hand on reports suggesting that the Ukrainian President is no longer pressing for NATO membership," S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP securities said. Top diplomats of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to meet in Turkey on Thursday. "Domestic indices carried forward yesterday's gains following a clawback in European markets and US futures as smart investors saw value in the current market valuations. The domestic market is also reacting positively to exit polls and in anticipation of in-line state election results. In the near term, the domestic market will trade as per the positive or negative surprise in the state election results and global trend," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap index jumped 2.37 per cent and the smallcap gauge gained 2.16 per cent. A total of 2,657 stocks advanced, while 684 declined and 94 remained unchanged.

From the 30-share pack, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indusind Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers. Asian Paints was the lead gainer, rising by 5.56 per cent. Reliance Industries soared 5.24 per cent, Bajaj Finserve by 5 per cent and HDFC Bank by 3.29 per cent. Among IT stocks, Tech Mahindra rose by 2.85 per cent, Infosys by 1.97 per cent, TCS gained close to 1 per cent. IndusInd Bank spurted by over 4 per cent after the bank said that it has set up a panel to assess the accountability of its staff, if any, in the matter related to disbursal of loans by its microfinance subsidiary BFIL without the consent of customers during March 2020-October 2021. In contrast, Power Grid Corporation, NTPC, Tata Steel, Nestle India and Wipro were the laggards.