Sensex, Nifty End in Flat

Negating all the gains, the markets closed the day on March 8th on a flat. Rally in foreign markets and the boost in the vaccination drive backed the equity markets and led the indices to surge higher in the early trade. The BSE Sensex closed at 50,441.07, up 36 points or 0.07 per cent, and Nifty-50 ended at 14,956.20, up 18 points or 0.12 per cent. Sensex marked 15 shares with gains in the 30-pack index, and Nifty posted gains in 29 shares out of 50. Overall, 1698 shares gained, 1382 declined and 208 were unchanged.

Shares of GAIL and ONGC surged nearly seven per cent in the intraday session on Monday after Brent crude prices reached their highest level since January, 2020. GAIL recorded a fresh record of Rs 157.95 and ONGC reached its new 52-week high at Rs 122.35. Reliance, Axis Bank and SBI added over a per cent each and contributed majorly to the index to continue the upward momentum throughout the day. The Banking index gained nearly 500 points in the early trade session as buying was seen in the sector. 

Sectorally, PSU Bank index gained the most as shares of Bank of India, SBI and Central Bank posted gains. Investors stand positive in the sector on the hopes of better growth post the government's announcement of the privatisation of select public banks.

However, the indices were dragged in the second half by categories including Auto, FMCG and the Financial sector as traders booked profit. Shares of Muthoot Finance, Bajaj Finance and Jubilant Food slipped over two per cent each.

Easy Trip Planners IPO: The Rs 510 crore offer was oversubscribed on Day 1 of its issue. The issue was subscribed 1.63 times and the retail portion of the offer was booked nine times.

Overall Positives from global markets: The U.S Markets closed higher as the investors cheered the progress of additional stimulus package and better than expected growth in the U.S jobs data also lifted the sentiment. Dow Jones gained 1.45 per cent, S&P 500 gained 1.58 per cent and Nasdaq gained 1.16 per cent on Friday. SGX Nifty - The Singaporean Exchange was also trading higher and indicated a positive opening for the Indian markets earlier today.

Ruchit Purohit

BW Reporters The author is a Trainee Journalist at BW Businessworld based in Mumbai. He tracks the Markets and related news.