Market Wrap, March 31: Here's all that happened in the markets today

A surprise expansion in China's manufacturing activity in March lifted investor sentiment on Tuesday, thus leading to around 4 per cent rally in the benchmark indices. China’s official Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 52 in March from a collapse to a record low of 35.7 in February.

The S&P BSE Sensex gained 1,028 points or 3.62 per cent to settle at 29,468.49 on the last day of the financial year 2019-20 (FY20). Of 30 constituents, 26 advanced and 4 declined. FMCG major ITC (up around 8 per cent) emerged as the top gainer of the index. RIL (up around 8 per cent), ONGC (up 7.64 per cent), and Tata Steel (up over 6 per cent) were the other major gainers.

NSE's Nifty ended at 8,598, up 317 points or 3.82 per cent.

Oil and gas stocks gained big during the day on sharp decline in the crude oil prices. The S&P BSE Oil & Gas index rallied around 9 per cent to 10,021 levels. BPCL, HPCL, and GAIL were up in the range of 15-8 per cent.

FMCG and metal stocks too made decent advances. While the S&P BSE Metal index jumped over 5 per cent to 5,713 levels, the S&P BSE FMCG index added around 6 per cent to 10,255 levels. Among individual stocks, Nestle India rallied 5 per cent to Rs 16,425 in intra-day trade. The stock ended at Rs 16,289, up around 4 per cent.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) hit its fresh 52-week high of Rs 2,311.85 in the intra-day session before settling at 2,298, up over 5 per cent.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank tanked around 15 per cent to Rs 351 apiece on the BSE.

Volatility index India VIX slipped over 10 per cent to 64.49 levels.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 100 index gained over 2 per cent to 11,704 and the Nifty SmallCap index rose over 3 per cent to 3,595 levels.

Global Markets

Asian shares were set to close out a calamitous quarter by eking out a small rally on Tuesday as factory data from China held out the hope of a revival in activity, even as much of the rest of the world shut down. China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) bounced to 52.0 in March, up from a record-low 35.7 in February and topping forecasts of 45.0.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.94 per cent but that still left it down 22 per cent for the quarter, its worst performance since 2008. Shanghai blue chips rose 0.4% and South Korea 1.87%. Japan’s Nikkei eased 1%, to be down 20% since the start of the year.

In commodity market, oil recovered ground on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to talks to stabilize energy markets, with benchmarks climbing off 18-year lows hit as the coronavirus outbreak cut fuel demand worldwide.