Market Wrap: Benchmark Indices Extend Gains For Third Straight Day, Nifty Up 72 Points, Sensex above 75,400

Indian stock markets continued to gain for the third straight day as the benchmark indices closed in the green on March 19. The Sensex closed at 75,449.05, closing higher by 147.79 points or 0.2 per cent. The benchmark Nifty closed at 22,907.6 level, up 73.3 points or 0.32 per cent.

Top Gainers And Losers

As the benchmark indices continued to gain, 31 constituents of the 50-share Nifty index advanced and 19 constituents declined. Shriram Finance Ltd, HDFC Life Insurance Company Ltd and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd gained the most, closing higher by up to 3.91 per cent. Shares of Tata Steel and Power Grid also gained significantly, closing higher by 2.51 per cent and 2.18 per cent respectively. Major IT sector stocks turned top drags as shares of Tech Mahindra, TCS and Infosys closed lower by up to 2.32 per cent.

Broader Market Indices Extend Gains

The Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty SmallCap 100 continued to gain for the second straight day and closed higher by up to 2.63 per cent. Nifty Realty and Nifty Metals gained the most among all major sectoral indices closing up to 2.8 per cent higher. The Nifty IT declined the most and closed lower by 1.08 per cent.

Global Markets

The Hang Seng index closed 30.57 points or 0.12 per cent higher at 24,771.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by 260.32 points or 0.62 per cent and the S&P 500 closed lower by 60.46 points or 1.07 per cent.

Primary Market Action

Shares of Super Iron Foundry Ltd were listed at Rs 107.95 apiece on the BSE SME platform with a discount of 0.05 per cent on March 19. Divine Hira Jewellers IPO and Paradeep Parivahan IPO are slated to open on March 20.

Cues To Watch

The US Federal Reserve meeting will take place on March 19 with the key interest rate announcement scheduled to be announced at 2PM. The stock market is likely to factor in the impact of the US Fed's announcement in the upcoming sessions.

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