On 2 March, Benchmark BSE Sensex spurted by 447 points to close above the psychological 50,000-mark on Tuesday following hectic buying in auto and IT counters amid positive domestic and global cues. This was the second consecutive session when the indices ended higher. The market was also supported by FMCG, pharma and banking sectors.

While Nifty ended in the green at 14,919, a rise of 157.60 points or 1.07 percent, Sensex went up by 447.05 points (0.90%) to end at 50,297. In terms of sectors, Nifty Auto index surged over 3 percent on the back of positive auto sales in February. The Nifty IT index, too, went up by 3 percent during the day, and Nifty FMCG and Nifty Pharma added over 1 percent each.

The top five gainers were Tata Motors, M&M, Wipro, Adani Ports and NTPC, while the top losers were ONGC, HDFC, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Coal India and Power Grid Corp.

Here are 10 stocks that moved the most on 2 March:

Bharat Electronics: The stock closed at Rs 151.7, up 4 percent. On 16 March, the company’s board will meet to decide on a second interim dividend for 2020-21 fiscal.

Shipping Corporation of India. The stock rose by 20 percent to end at Rs 124.50 after the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management secretary said that multiple expressions of interest were received for the privatisation of the company.

Mahindra and Mahindra: The stock gained over 4 percent and ended at Rs 857. The company saw a 25 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in tractor sales in February at 28,146 units, as against 22,561 units last year in the same period.

Bharti Airtel: The stock ended at Rs 541.70, a rise of over 1 per cent, on the back of the company acquiring 355.45 MHz and 2,300 MHz spectrum for Rs 18,699 crore.

Hero MotoCorp: The share price rose 4 percent and ended at Rs 3,481.20. The company’s YoY total sales were up 1.5 percent to 5,05,467 units as compared to 4,98,242 units last February.

BPCL: The stock was up 3 percent and ended at Rs 469.80. The company stated that it would exit the Numaligarh refinery in Assam by selling its stake or Rs 9,876 crore.

Cipla: The stock ended at Rs 811.90, adding over 2 per cent. The company’s unit Cipla Gulf FZ LCC is expanding its partnership with Alvotech for the marketing and distribution of four biosimilar medicines in Australia and New Zealand.

RITES: The share rose 3 per cent and closed at Rs 268.95.

Bajaj Healthcare: The stock rose 2 percent to end at Rs 488.35, after Maharashtra Pollution Control Board gave consent to restart its manufacturing activities at the unit situated in Boisar.

Subex: The stock ended at Rs 28.85, jumping 5 percent on the back of the company’s announcement that it had become a member of the O-RAN Alliance.

Sectorally, BSE auto surged the most with 3.18 percent gains, followed by IT (2.85 percent), tech (2.84 percent) and industrials (2.20 percent). All the 19 sectoral indices closed in the green.

Broader smallcap, midcap and large-cap indices too rallied 1.60 percent, 1.55 percent and 1.11 percent, respectively - outperforming the benchmark.
Analysts said investor sentiment remained upbeat due to encouraging GDP numbers for the third quarter as well as returning of calmness in global bond markets after the last week's turmoil.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "An improved outlook post-February auto sales numbers resulted in continued buying in auto stocks with IT sector also being a major contributor in the rally".

S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities said that markets exhibited buoyancy today despite its share of volatility in afternoon trade. IT stocks and auto stocks led the rally while the broader market saw keen interest in paper stocks on rising product prices.

A strong buying was seen in midcap and smallcap packs and outperformed broader indices as visible earnings recovery is attracting investors in this space.

Notably, the volatility index contracted sharply for the second consecutive day by over 6 per cent, Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities said.

"Concerns pertaining to rising bond yields appear to have softened a bit after central bankers across the world have begun to push back against higher rates.

"This should offer some comfort to Indian equities and INR as rising bond yields in the USA and declining spread between USA Treasury yields and India's GSec yields had started putting pressure on INR," Modi said.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed with losses after a selloff in US Treasury debt eased. Meanwhile, Brent Futures rose 0.71 percent to trade at 63.76 per barrel. On the forex market front, the rupee surged by 18 paise to close at 73.37 against the US dollar on Tuesday.

With inputs from PTI