Bulls back on D-Street; Sensex settles 750 pts up; PSU, auto stocks rally

Stock market updates:Equity shares rebounded on Monday amid a broad-based buying after the benchmark indices suffered their biggest one-day drop on Friday. The lacklusture trade turned mildly volatile in the noon deals yet ended in the day's-high territory.

Riding on the back of gains in HDFC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Asian Paints, L&T, and Reliance Industries the headline S&P BSE Sensex settled at 49,850 levels, up 750 points or 1.5 per cent. The previously-mentioned stocks contributed nearly 366 points towards the total gain.

In percentage terms, Power Grid, ONGC, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, and Titan Company, up between 3 per cent and 6 per cent, were the top gainers on the BSE barometer. On the downside, only Bharti Airtel, down 4.5 per cent, ended the day in the red.

On NSE, the broader Nifty50 index closed above the 14,750-mark on the back of 232 points, or 1.6 per cent, gains. The index was quoting at 14,761 levels at 3:30 PM. 

Meanwhile, the volatility index, India VIX, cooled-off 9 per cent to end near 25.6 levels.

In the broader markets, the S&P BSE SmallCap index closed at 20,475 levels, up 1.6 per cent. The S&P BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, closed at 20,257 levels, up 1.4 per cent.

The advance to decline ratio favoured bulls as nearly 2 stocks rose for every 1 stock that declined on the BSE.

On the sectoral front, stocks of PSU Enterprises and automobile firms traded firmly at the bourses. While the Nifty PSE and CPSE indices closed 3 per cent and 4 per cent higher, respectively on hopes for speedy privatisation, the Nifty Auto index jumped over 2 per cent on the back of healthy sales figures for the month of February. 

Individually, Maruti Suzuki reported 12 per cent YoY growth in total sales, while Tata Motors clocked a 54 per cent YoY jump in domestic sales and 51 per cent increase in total sales. M&M, on the other hand, reported 11.4 per cent YoY improvement in total sales. As regards two-wheelers, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motors reported 6 per cent and 18 per cent YoY growth, respectively. These shares ended up in the range of 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent.

That apart, the Nifty Metal index closed 1.8 per cent higher while the Nifty Bank, Pharma, and Realty indices ended 1 per cent higher each. 

Global markets
European shares jumped on Monday and the bond market calmed, with yields dropping from their recent spikes, while optimism about US fiscal stimulus sent oil prices higher.