Nifty reclaims 17,100, investors recover much of previous day's losses; HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank aid 500-point leap in Nifty Bank

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 recovered much of their previous day's losses in a strong session on Tuesday, aided by buying interest in financial and oil & gas shares though selling pressure in IT and FMCG shares limited the upside. Globally, the last-minute rescue of the troubled Credit Suisse continued to support banking shares, rocked by concerns about contagion in the past few days also because of the sudden collapse of SVB.  

Both headline indices finished the day three-quarters of a per cent higher. The Nifty added 119.1 points to end at 17,107.5 and the Sensex gained 446 points to settle at 58,074.7. 

The Nifty Bank — whose 12 constituents include India's top lenders such as SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank — closed 532.8 points or 1.4 per cent higher at 39,894.7. 

Did investors recover all of Monday's losses? 

Investors recovered Rs 1.5 lakh crore in wealth as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies increased to Rs 256.9 lakh crore, after losing Rs 2.1 lakh crore the previous day, according to provisional exchange data.  

Blue-chip shares that moved the most

HDFC Life, Reliance, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, SBI Life, Axis Bank, Titan, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv and IndusInd Bank rose the most among the 26 gainers in the Nifty50 basket.

On the other hand, PowerGrid, Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Tech Mahindra, Divi's, TCS, Apollo Hospitals, Infosys, ONGC and Dr Reddy's were the top laggards in the 50-scrip blue-chip universe.

Top Nifty gainers

Top Nifty losers

Tata Motors inched 0.4 per cent higher to end at Rs 412.4 apiece on BSE.

Editor's Take | Tata Motors is Anil Singhvi's long-term wealth creation pick

Zee Business Managing Editor Anil Singhvi recommends going long on Tata Motors as an investment bet to play the electric vehicle theme. "Levels some Rs 30 below the current market price will be a good entry point," he said.

ALSO READ: Anil Singhvi says Tata Motors has vision, capacity to be India's Tesla

Overall market breadth remained in favour of the bulls throughout the day, with an advance-decline ratio of 6:5 as 1,978 stocks rose and 1,550 fell at the close on BSE. 

GAIL, Nalco, Hudco were among a bunch of stocks that traded ex dividend. SBI Card and Hindustan Zinc boards gave nod to interim dividends post-market hours. 

Global market update

European markets began the day firmly in the green, with the pan-continental Stoxx 600 rising 1.4 per cent at the last count led by strength in banking stocks following a raft of measures to stabilise the space. Investors the world over awaited a key decision on benchmark interest rates by the Fed due late on Wednesday India time.  

The futures contracts of the three main Wall Street indices suggest a positive start ahead in the US. 

• Dow Jones futures: up 272 points — or 0.8 per cent — at 32,728 
• S&P 500 futures: up 26.5 points — or 0.7 per cent — at 4,009.5
• Nasdaq futures: up 38.8 points — or 0.3 per cent — at 12,727.5

Catch highlights of the March 21 session in the Indian share market here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech, sports and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.