Market at Close | Nifty reclaims 23,500, Sensex rises 318 points to end March Series higher

The Indian equity market closed the March F&O series on a strong note, with the Sensex rising 318 points to 77,606 and the Nifty gaining 104 points to settle at 23,592 on Thursday (March 27). The broader market was mixed, with the Nifty Bank climbing 367 points to 51,576 and the Midcap index adding 193 points to 51,839.

From the Sensex basket, Bajaj Finserv Ltd, IndusInd Bank Ltd, Wipro Ltd, NTPC Ltd, UltraTech Cement Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Ltd were the major gainers. Tata Motors Ltd, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd and Tata Steel Ltd were the biggest laggards.

Auto stocks declined following US President Trump's announcement of higher tariffs, with Tata Motors sliding 6% as the decision is expected to impact 30% of Jaguar Land Rover’s volumes. Samvardhana Motherson, Sona BLW, and Bharat Forge also ended lower on tariff concerns. KPIT Technologies and Tata Technologies fell 2% each on anticipated repercussions.

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Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv continued their upward trend, gaining 2-3%. Adani Group stocks surged, with Adani Energy and Adani Green leading the gains. Meanwhile, Ashok Leyland lost 3% as promoter share pledges weighed on sentiment.

Capri Global saw a sharp intraday decline, ending 15% lower on heavy volumes. IndusInd Bank exited the F&O ban list, closing with a 3% gain. Hero MotoCorp was the top Nifty gainer, rising over 3% ahead of monthly sales data.

Zomato ended flat, while Jio Financial gained 1% ahead of its Nifty inclusion. Britannia and BPCL advanced 1% and 3%, respectively, before their Nifty exclusion. GAIL closed over 4% higher amid expectations of a potential tariff hike by the PNGRB next month. Among midcaps, BSE, Bank of Baroda, Paytm, Macrotech Developers, Union Bank, and Page Industries were among the top performers.

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