The domestic market resumed its upward march on March 22 amid mixed global cues even as the Ukraine war continued without any signs of an end.
As reported by Reuters, "nearly four weeks into their invasion, Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian city and have been halted on nearly all fronts, but are hammering residential districts with artillery, missiles and airstrikes."
Ukraine's military warned the public of more indiscriminate Russian shelling while US President Joe Biden warned that Russia is considering using chemical weapons.
Market benchmarks rose even as crude oil prices traded near $115 a barrel. The rupee pared losses to settle flat at 76.18 (provisional) against the US dollar.
The 30-share pack Sensex closed 697 points, or 1.22 percent, higher at 57,989.30 while the Nifty50 ended at 17,315.50, up 198 points, or 1.16 percent.
The fineprint
Only three stocks- Hindustan Unilever (down 2.81 percent), Nestle (down 2.49 percent), NTPC (down 0.08 percent) and Sun Pharma (down 0.06 percent)- closed in the red in the Sensex kitty of stocks.
Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, ITC and TCS emerged as the top gainers in the Sensex index, rising between 2 to 4 percent.
Mid and small caps underperformed as the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed 0.17 percent and 0.15 percent higher, respectively.
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Energy, IT, Teck and Oil & Gas rose almost 2 percent each. On the flip side, BSE Realty fell 1.06 percent, followed by the FMCG index which tumbled 0.71 percent.
Market Cap
The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms rose to ₹260.3 lakh crore from ₹258.4 lakh crore, making investors richer by nearly ₹2 lakh crore in a day.
More than 125 stocks, including Linde India, JK Paper, Greenpanel Industries, Shankara Building Products, Vedanta and Century Plyboards, hit their fresh 52-week highs on BSE.
The concerns of the Ukraine war and rising inflation is keeping investors cautious and the gains in the market may not sustain amid uncertainty.
"We reiterate our positive yet cautious view on markets amid global uncertainty. A decisive break above 17,350 in Nifty would pave for a further surge towards 17,500-17,700 levels. And, we feel the banking pack holds the key from hereon. Participants should align their positions accordingly," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking.
However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on March 21 said that the current spike in inflation is transitory and may moderate in months to come.
Das reiterated that RBI would ensure there is abundant liquidity in the market for the credit system to function normally.
Meanwhile, global rating agency Fitch Ratings has cut its global growth forecast highlighting that elevated inflation in the wake of a sharp rise in commodity prices, thanks to the Ukraine war, is a big risk for the global economy.
Fitch has lowered its growth forecast for India for FY23 to 8.5 percent (-1.8pp) on sharply higher energy prices.
