Corporate Actions
Sensex, Nifty pare losses; metal shares advance; VIX slumps 6.96%

17-Mar-26   13:36 Hrs IST
The domestic equity benchmarks pared all early losses and traded with significant gains in the afternoon trade after a volatile session marked by swings between profits and losses. Investors remained cautious amid lingering concerns over the ongoing US-Iran tensions in the Middle East, a sharp rise in crude oil prices, and sustained strength in the US dollar, factors that have dampened overall risk appetite.

The Nifty traded above the 23,500 level. Metal, auto and media shares advanced while IT, PSU bank and FMCG shares declined.

At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 426.04 points or 0.56% to 75,928.89. The Nifty 50 index rallied 131.90 points or 0.56% to 23,540.70.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.78% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.35%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,394 shares rose and 1,692 shares fell. A total of 197 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for May 2026 settlement jumped $3.16 or 3.15% to $103.37 a barrel.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tanked 6.96% to 20.10.

Gainers & Losers:

Eternal (up 5.52%), Tata Steel (up 2.62%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.50%), HDFC Life Insurance Company (up 2.17%) and Hindalco Industries (up 1.86%) were the major Nifty50 gainers.

Wipro (down 2.17%), Bajaj Finance (down 1.47%), Cipla (down 1.33%), Infosys (down 1.26%) and Nestle India (down 0.99%) were the major Nifty50 losers.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Time Technoplast added 1.82% after it has secured an order worth approximately Rs 115.56 crore from a well-established PSU for the supply of Type IV cylinders ' Mobile Storage Cascades ' for CNG and CGD networks.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.24%. The company announced that it has entered into a binding long-term supply and purchase agreement with Samsung C&T Corporation, South Korea, for the supply of green ammonia over a 15-year period starting in the second half of FY2029.

Power Mech Projects added 2.66% after it has secured an order worth Rs 709.56 crore from Adani Infrastructure Management Services, a part of the Adani Group, for operations and maintenance services at a thermal power plant in Maharashtra.

Oberoi Realty added 1.78% after the company said that it has entered into a development agreement for lands situate at Aram Nagar, Versova, Andheri West, Mumbai.

Global Markets:

European markets opened broadly flat on Tuesday as global markets remain volatile and oil prices continue to fluctuate.

Asian markets traded higher as auto and tech stocks gained after Nvidia announced a robust revenue forecast for its key chips and partnerships with carmakers from the region.

The gains in the sectors were fueled by the latest comments from the Nvidia CEO. Jensen Huang said that he expects purchase orders between Blackwell and Vera Rubin chips to reach $1 trillion through 2027 at Nvidia's annual developer conference on Monday.

Shares of automakers Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor, and Isuzu, as well as China's BYD and Geely, rose after Nvidia announced it was partnering with these companies for its autonomous vehicle development business.

Investors also assessed Iran war developments, with U.S. President Donald Trump looking to delay his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping by 'a month or so' due to the Middle East conflict. Trump was expected to travel to China at the end of March.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks rose while oil prices pulled back as Wall Street tried to recover from another losing week, with investors monitoring the latest developments of the Iran war.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 387.94 points, or 0.83%, closing at 46,946.41. The S&P 500 rose 1.01% to end at 6,699.38, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.22% and settled at 22,374.18.

Meta shares gained more than 2% on a report'which the company has called speculative'that it is planning to lay off more than 20% of its workforce.

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