Sensex, Nifty rally for 2nd day on weak crude, talks between Russia, Ukraine

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for a second straight session on Tuesday after gains in index majors HDFC twins, Bharti Airtel and Infosys as global shares advanced ahead of peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 350.16 points or 0.61 per cent to settle at 57,943.65 with 20 of its constituents closing higher. During the day, the index rallied 408.04 points or 0.70 per cent to 58,001.53.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 103.30 points or 0.60 per cent to settle at 17,325.30 as its 32 components closed in green.

"Reports of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine along with weakening crude prices helped the global markets trade firm," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Among Sensex stocks, HDFC was the biggest gainer on value-buying after recent losses. The housing finance major spurted 3.06 per cent.

Bharti Airtel rallied 2.89 per cent after reports said that the telco may consider a tariff hike and continue with 'premiumisation' to boost its ARPU to Rs 300.

Among major index movers, HDFC Bank rose by 1.4 per cent, Ultratech Cement by 2.7 per cent, Sun Pharma by 1.62 per cent and Dr Reddy's by 1.09 per cent.

Kotak Bank rose by 0.74 per cent while Infosys by 0.66 per cent. ICICI Bank, HUL, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints and Nestle also advanced.

On the other hand, ITC fell the most by 0.99 per cent while Tata Steel, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and NTPC also dropped.

"For yet another session, markets traded highly volatile and ended with gains of more than half a per cent. Supportive global cues led to a gap-up opening and thereafter the benchmark traded with positive bias throughout the session but with volatile swings," Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd said.

"Markets ended bullish with the broader indices up by 0.66 per cent. This was in hopes of a positive outcome from the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine," according to Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Equity 99.

In the previous trade, the BSE barometer climbed 231.29 points or 0.40 per cent to settle at 57,593.49. The NSE Nifty recovered 69 points or 0.40 per cent to 17,222.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap index gained 0.66 per cent and smallcap gauge jumped 0.63 per cent.

From BSE sectoral indices, healthcare jumped the most by 1.36 per cent, followed by basic materials (1.19 per cent), and realty (1.03 per cent).

Among losers, BSE Energy declined by 0.5 per cent, BSE Oil & Gas by 0.30 per cent and BSE Auto by 0.19 per cent.

Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp tanked 7.08 per cent to Rs 2,208.35 on BSE after the exchange sought clarification on a media report that claims that the 'I-T Department finds Rs 1,000 crore false expenses claims by Hero MotoCorp'.

"Despite the fall, the stock does not look very attractive to us in the long term mainly due to pressure on its volumes and a tepid outlook given the rise in fuel costs, slow recovery in both urban and rural markets and a 25-30% hike in acquisition costs of the two-wheelers since the pandemic started.

"However, the knee jerk reaction shown today in the stock may see some recovery tomorrow provided the management gives a satisfactory clarification to the street," Ashwin Patil, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong ended with gains, while Shanghai settled marginally lower.

European markets were trading with gains ahead of peace talks between warring Ukraine and Russia in Turkey.

Ukrainian and Russian officials are meeting in Istanbul for face-to-face talks for the first time in two weeks as the war between the countries entered its second month.

Crude oil prices traded lower in the day before recovering 0.52 per cent to USD 113.1 per barrel in after market hours.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 801.41 crore on Monday, according to stock exchange data. 

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