More Stories

Informist, Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2025

By Akshita Kumar

MUMBAI – The benchmark indices ended higher Wednesday on the back of gains in information technology and automobile stocks. Gains in some index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel also boosted the rise in the Nifty 50 index. Analysts said an indication from US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the Donald Trump administration may ease some tariffs was one of the reasons for the positive sentiment in the domestic market.

The Nifty 50 ended at 22337.30 points, up 254.65 points or 1.2%. The 50-stock index snapped a 10-day losing streak, its longest since 1996. The BSE Sensex ended at 73730.23 points, up 740.30 points or 1%. A few analysts also attributed the positive momentum to short-covering in the market. Broader market indices outperformed their benchmark peers. Nifty mid-cap indices ended up over 2.4% and the small-cap indices ended up 2.7-3.2%.

Shares of all Adani Group companies ended higher. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Adani Enterprises each ended around 5% higher to be the top perfomers in the Nifty 50 index. Shares of Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions closed around 10% higher and were the top gainers in the Nifty 200 index.

Shares of most automobile companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, and Tata Motors closed 3-4% higher. Owing to this, the Nifty Auto index ended 2.6% higher. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra rose amid gains in the company's market share and healthy growth in sales for February. The company had reported 19% on-year rise in domestic utility vehicles sales in February.

Brokerage UBS upgraded Mahindra & Mahindra's stock to 'buy' from 'neutral', but cut its target price to INR 3,300 from INR 3,460, media reports said. The brokerage expects the company's volumes to grow 9% in the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) on strong demand for its sport utility vehicles and the launch of its electric vehicles, media reports said.

Commerce Secretary Lutnick said President Trump may scale back at least part of the 25% tariff imposed on imports from Mexico and Canada. The tariff on Canada and Mexico and additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods kicked in Tuesday, resulting in retaliatory action by Canada and China. The US Dollar Index fell to a near four-month low as investors worried about the impact of a trade war on the US economy. At 1624 IST, the dollar index was at 105.04, down 0.7%.

Shares of metal companies Tata Steel, JSW Steel, and Hindalco closed 5%, 3%, and 2.5% higher, respectively. These stocks surged after China said it would restructure its steel industry to reduce its total output, as per media reports. The move may reduce the dumping of cheap steel into the domestic market, which would be a positive for Indian steel manufacturers.

Shares of oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp., and Bharat Petroleum Corp. all ended over 2% higher amid the fall in crude oil prices, which reached the $70-per-barrel mark, after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies Monday decided to gradually unwind their voluntary production cuts from Apr. 1.

Shares of both Power Grid Corp. of India and NTPC ended nearly 4% higher. Shares of Coforge, which rose almost 11% earlier, came off the high to close 8.3% higher. The stock snapped a four-day losing streak during which it had fallen 6.4%. Coforge's board has approved a stock split, dividing each share of face value INR 10 into five shares of face value INR 2. Shares of Craftsman Automation and IIFL Finance ended up over 10% each.

Some banking and financial services stocks, such as Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, and HDFC Bank, ended 1-3% lower and were the worst hit in the Nifty 50 index. Shares of BSE and Anand Rathi Wealth ended 4% and 6.5% lower, respectively.

All the sectoral indices were in positive territory for most of Wednesday's trading session and closed higher. Nifty Metal, Nifty Media, and Nifty PSU Bank ended 3-4% up with all their constituents rising. These were the best performing sectoral indices. Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Bank ended 0.1% and 0.5% up, respectively.

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 45 rose and 5 fell

* Of the Sensex stocks, 26 rose and 4 fell

* On the NSE, 2,461 stocks rose, 436 fell, and 70 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 3,247 stocks rose, 768 fell, and 86 were unchanged

* Nifty Metal: up 4%; Nifty Media: up 3%; Nifty PSU Bank: up 3%

BSE                                               NSE

Sensex: 73730.23, up 740.30 points or 1%          Nifty 50: 22337.30, up 254.65 points or 1.2%

End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.