Closing Bell: Sensex jumps 389 points, Nifty closes at 16,794

Indian equity benchmarks closed with solid gains on Monday. Despite a negative start, domestic indices staged a strong recovery, amid the worsening Russia-Ukraine crisis. Traders awaited official data on India’s GDP for the October-December period due later in the day.

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BSE Sensex recovered from morning session lows to close 389 points on Monday on account of gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Infosys. The 30-share benchmark closed 388.76 points or 0.70% high at 56,247.28, after trading in the range of 54,833.50 and 56,324.54.

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Amid weak global sentiments, the broader Nifty 50 surged 135.50 points or 0.81% to settle at 16,793.90. Out of 50, as many as 33 Nifty shares closed higher while 17 declined.

Among sectoral indices, metal surged up 5%, oil & gas index up 2% and power index up 1.5%, while auto and bank indices are trading in the red. BSE midcap and smallcap indices are up 0.5% each.

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Top Sensex gainers were Tata Steel by 6.61%, Power Grid Corp by 6.03%, Reliance Industries by 3.29%, Titan Company by 3.11% and NTPC by 2.46%.

Among major Sensex gainers, Reliance Industries surged by 3.29% as energy prices went up due to the war in Ukraine.

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On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s fell the most by 2.81%, followed by M&M down by 2.07%, Axis Bank down by 2.05%, HDFC Bank by 1.99% and Kotak Mahindra by 0.84%.

Meanwhile, Asian markets bounced back from early losses to close higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.2% higher, the Shanghai Composite index rose by 0.3% while the Kospi in Seoul jumped 0.8%. However, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 0.2%.

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Oil prices surged up on Monday, with US benchmark crude rising 4.7% to USD 95.92 per barrel and Brent crude gaining 4.5% to USD 98.32 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional investors further sold shares worth Rs 4,470.70 crore in the Indian capital markets on Friday.

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The rupee dropped by 2 paise to 75.35 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday