Value Buying Snaps 8-Day Losing Streak

Positive Asian and European indices aided sentiment, while gains in select banking, oil & gas, metal and power stocks helped local benchmarks recover from their early lows, said Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd

Mumbai: Stock markets snapped the eight-day losing run in a volatile session on Monday with benchmark Sensex closing higher by 57 points on the back of value buying in blue-chip stocks HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries.

Helped by fag-end buying, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 57.65 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 75,996.86. During the day, the barometer tanked 644.45 points or 0.84 per cent to 75,294.76. The NSE Nifty rebounded 30.25 points or 0.13 per cent to 22,959.50.

“Markets eked out modest gains in late recovery in a highly volatile trade, but most importantly it managed to halt the 8-session losing streak. Positive Asian and European indices aided sentiment, while gains in select banking, oil & gas, metal and power stocks helped local benchmarks recover from their early lows,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.51 per cent, while smallcap index declined 0.56 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, healthcare jumped 1.14 per cent, energy (0.89 per cent), services (0.82 per cent), metal (0.76 per cent), power (0.75 per cent), oil & gas (0.74 per cent). Consumer Discretionary, industrials, IT, telecommunication, auto, teck and BSE Focused IT were among the laggards.

Reports that the US and India will meet soon to decide on broad contours of a trade agreement for reducing tariffs supported buying in metal, pharma and financial shares, analysts said. From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Zomato and Tata Motors were among the major gainers. Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, ICICI Bank, and ITC were the big-gest laggards.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs4,294.69 crore on Friday, accord-ing to exchange data. The total outflow by FPIs has reached Rs99,299 crore -- near Rs1 lakh crore -- in 2025 so far, data with the depositories showed. FPIs pulled out Rs21,272 crore in the first two weeks of this month, driven by global tensions after the US imposed tariffs on imports. This came following a net outflow of Rs78,027 crore in January.

The BSE benchmark dropped 199.76 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 75,939.21 on Friday. The Nifty declined 102.15 points or 0.44 per cent to 22,929.25. In the last eight trading days, the BSE benchmark tanked 2,644.6 points or 3.36 per cent, and the Nifty slumped 810 points or 3.41 per cent.