Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty end higher in a choppy trading session

Domestic equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty began the week on a choppy note amid weakness across most Asian markets, but a swift recovery towards the end lifted the indices to close in positive for the second day in a row.

Headline equity indices on Monday finished higher in a volatile trading session led by strong buying in metal shares. Both the benchmarks swung between gains and losses before settling in green for the second consecutive session. 

In today's trade, Sensex rebounded nearly 1,500 points from day's low to close in the green. Market participants turned optimistic amid hopes for Russia-Ukraine negotiations. Ukraine said that negotiations with Moscow would be held at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

At the closing bell on February 28, the Sensex was up 388.76 points or 0.70% at 56,247.28, and the Nifty was up 135.50 points or 0.81% at 16,793.90. On the market breadth, around 2071 shares have advanced, 1290 shares declined, and 142 shares are unchanged.

Top gainers today were Hindalco Industries, Tata Steel, Power Grid Corporation, JSW Steel and BPCL, while top losers included HDFC Life, Dr Reddy's Labs, M&M, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank.

Among the buzzing stock, Hindalco was the top gainer as it soared 7.16% to Rs 572.15.

On a sectoral basis, except auto and bank, all other sectoral indices ended in the green. In the broad market, the BSE midcap and smallcap indices are up 0.8% each.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US announced sanctions on some individuals, and on some Russian banks, while the EU has said that it will disconnect an unnamed list of Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system. Also, both the US and the EU have said that they will prevent Russia from accessing its reserves.

Indian market will be closed tomorrow on the occasion of Mahashivratri.