Despite Ukraine turmoil, D St clocks rebound

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex recovered from early lows to close higher for the second straight session on Monday, mirroring a rebound in Asian equities, even as the Ukraine crisis continued to roil western markets.

After a weak opening, the 30-share BSE barometer plunged more than 1,025 points to the day's low of 54,833.50, before staging a recovery to close 388.76 pts or 0.70 per cent higher at 56,247.28, marking its second session of gains.

On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 135.50 points or 0.81 points to settle at 16,793.90. "Aggravated Russia-Ukraine conflict along with fresh sanctions on Russia by global powers weighed on Western markets.

Despite opening on a negative tone, domestic indices staged a strong recovery lifted by metal stocks and positive Asian markets. Metal stocks rallied on hopes that curtailing Russian exports would help Indian steelmakers to capture the export market share. Domestic investors are keenly awaiting the release of the Q3 GDP data later today," said Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, adds: "Markets will first react to GDP data outcome in early trade on Wednesday. At this point, participants are keeping a close watch on updates related to Russia and Ukraine. Any fruitful negotiation outcome will boost sentiments, however on the flip side any dissatisfaction to either country, may once again impact markets worldwide. We would remain cautious and wait for some meaningful sign of de-escalation." Spooked by the Ukraine crisis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) further offloaded shares worth Rs 4,470.70 crore in the Indian capital markets on Friday, exchange data showed.