Sensex Rises Over 200 Points; Nifty Trades Above 16,900; Asian Paints, M&M Among Top Gainers

The Indian equity benchmarks traded higher in opening deals on Tuesday. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 231 points or 0.41 per cent to 56,717, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 40 points or 0.24 per cent higher to 16,912.

Mid- and small-cap shares were trading on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped 0.47 per cent and small-cap shares gained 0.63 per cent.

11 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — were trading in the green. Nifty Auto and Nifty Pharma were outperforming the index by rising as much as 1.05 per cent and 0.87 per cent, respectively. However, Nifty Metal and Nifty Oil & Gas slipped 1.80 per cent and 0.83 per cent, respectively.

On the stock-specific front, Asian Paints was the top Nifty gainer as the stock surged 1.89 per cent to ₹ 3,018. M&M, Maruti, Cipla and Eicher Motor were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 1,800 shares were advancing while 705 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, M&M, Maruti, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, ITC and Bharti Airtel were among the top gainers.

In contrast, Tata Steel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys, PowerGrid, NTPC and Bajaj Finance were among the top laggards.

Sensex had rallied 936 points or 1.68 per cent to settle at 56,486 on Monday, while Nifty had moved 241 points or 1.45 per cent higher to close at 16,871.

On the global front, Asian stocks were in the red as surging Covid-19 cases in China hit the confidence of investors who are already worried about the Russia-Ukraine war.

U.S. crude slipped a further 2.54 per cent to $100.44 a barrel, in line with broader asset selling. Brent crude was down 2.27 per cent to $104.42 per barrel.