Heavyweights pull Nifty, Sensex out of the red; Bharti Airtel rises 3.4%

The benchmark stock indices, Sensex and Nifty50, 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.

Chart

Bharti Airtel rose the most by 3.4 per cent among Sensex stocks. Axis Bank rose by 2.13 per cent, ICICI Bank by 1.59 per cent and SBI by 1.44 per cent. Reliance Industries rose by nearly 1 per cent, helping the barometer recover from losses. IndusInd Bank rose by 1.33 per cent, Bajaj Finserve by 1.09 per cent while Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank also advanced.

FMCG major ITC jumped 1.54 per cent while Hindustan Unilever rose by 1 per cent.

Among losers, Nestlé fell the most by 1.83 per cent, HDFC by 1.58 per cent and HCL Tech by 1.41 per cent. Dr Reddy dropped 1.4 per cent, Asian Paints by 0.64 per cent and Wipro by 0.59 per cent due to profit booking.

“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 the markets in 2022 will continue to be the high US inflation and Fed tightening,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.