Sensex, Nifty Gain For Second Straight Session Paced By Metal Stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks gained for second straight session on Monday on hopes of de-escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine as delegation of both the countries were set to meet at border of Belarus. The Indian benchmarks which plummeted sharply after Russian President Vladmir Putin ordered nuclear forces to be put on high alert recovered from lower levels with Sensex advancing as much as 1,491 points from day's lowest level and Nifty touching an intraday high of 16,816 after hitting low of 16,356.

The Sensex rose 389 points to close at 56,247 and Nifty 50 index climbed 135 points to close at 16,793.

The ruble sank nearly 26 per cent against the U.S. dollar early Monday after Western nations moved to block Russian banks from the SWIFT global payment system.

The ruble was trading at a record low of 105.27 per dollar, down from about $84 per dollar late Friday. 

Back home, Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid and TCS were top movers in the Sensex.

Ten of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Metal index's 5 per cent gain. Nifty Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Information Technology, FMCG and Realty indices also rose between 0.6-2.6 per cent.

On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Auto, Financial Services and Private Bank indices ended lower.

Broader markets also staged a recovery during the session with Nifty Midcap 100 index rising 1 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advancing 0.6 per cent.

Hindalco was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 7.2 per cent to close at Rs 572. Analysts say Hindalco stands to gain from price rise in international markets after sanctions were imposed on Russia.

Tata Steel, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Bharat Petroleum, Titan, Coal India, Reliance Industries, Divi's Labs, NTPC and Indian Oil also rose between 2.4-6.3 per cent.

On the flipside, HDFC Life, Dr Reddy's Labs, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,115 shares ended higher while 1,332 closed lower on the BSE.