The markets ended the last day of the March derivatives series on a high note, with the Sensex adding 107 points at 17558 and the Nifty shutting shop at 5260, up 36 points.
The mid-cap and small-cap indices ended flat at 6716 and 8426 respectively.
It was a rather uneventful trading day as the gyrations that one would expect on F&O expiry day were conspicious by their absence.
Markets were quiet through most of the day before coming to life in the last hour of trade, aided by a gush of short-covering and support from across the European continent. The FTSE, CAC and DAC are trading higher by up to 1% each.
Meanwhile, food inflation slipped to 16.22% in the 12 months ended March 13. The food price index rose 16.22 percent during this period compared to an annual rise of 16.30 percent in the previous week.
The primary articles index was up 13.88 percent and the fuel index rose 12.68%, government data showed.
The capital goods space was the leading sectoral gainer on the BSE, with AIA Engineering, Alstom Projects and BHEL adding more than 1% each.
The leading stock gainers were Hero Honda (strengthened by 4.3% at Rs 2022), Hindalco (appreciated by 3.7% at Rs 176) and Sun Pharma (added 2.8% at Rs 1739). Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Jaiprakash Associates were the other leading gainers.
And index heavyweight Reliance Industries ended marginally higher at Rs 1091.
Among the top Sensex losers, ACC weakened by 2.4% at Rs 933, Tata Motors shed 1.8% at Rs 725 and Maruti lost 1.4% at Rs 1372.
The market breadth, though, was weak. Out of 2918 stocks traded on the BSE, there were 1316 advancing stocks as against 1529 declines.
© 2025