Closing Bell: Dalal Street celebrates early Holi; Sensex, Nifty gain heavily

Upbeat global cues post the Fed rate hike, falling oil prices and progress in Russia-Ukraine talks boosted the investor confidence as domestic bourses were up by 2% in afternoon deals.

The Indian equity markets on Thursday celebrated an early Holi as it rallied for the second straight session amid strong cues from the global markets. Asian shares moved in line with a rally on Wall Street overnight, as the US Federal Reserve increased policy rate for the first time since 2018 and signs of progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine lifted investors' sentiment. The US central bank increased rates by a quarter-point (25 basis points) and mentioned equivalent hikes at every meeting for the remaining of this year.

At the closing bell on March 17, the Sensex was up 1,047.28 points or 1.84% at 57,863.93, and the Nifty was up 311.70 points or 1.84% at 17,287.00. On the market breadth, around 2046 shares have advanced, 1270 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

Top Nifty gainers of the day were HDFC, JSW Steel, Titan Company, SBI Life Insurance and Kotak Mahindra Bank, while top losers were Infosys, Cipla, IOC, Coal India and HCL Technologies. Among the buzzing stocks, HDFC was the top Nifty gainer as it climbed 5.36% to Rs 2,415. Among the laggards, shares of Paytm's parent One 97 Communications fell once again by 6.28% to Rs 594.25.

On a sectoral basis, all the sectoral indices ended in the green with the auto index rising 2% and realty index going up by 3%. In the broad markets, BSE midcap & smallcap indices gained over 1% each.

The Indian stock market will remain closed on Friday on account of the Holi festival. It will reopen on March 21.