The Indian stock market ended Friday’s session, March 20, in positive territory but erased a large part of its intraday gains amid profit booking. Still, the benchmarks recouped some of the previous day’s sharp sell-off—the worst intraday fall in two years.
Select sectors such as IT, PSUs, and pharma supported the indices, while the sell-off in real estate stocks deepened further. Consequently, the Nifty 50 closed 0.50% higher at 23,114. At one point, the index had jumped as much as 1.5% to hit the day’s high.
Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex also ended the session at 74,544, up 0.45% from the previous close. On a weekly basis, both indices have remained in the red for the fourth consecutive week.
In terms of sectoral performance, Nifty IT emerged as the top performer, rallying 2.17%, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Pharma also gained over 2%. This was followed by Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto, which rose 1.45% and 0.84%, respectively.
Although tensions in the Middle East remained elevated, crude oil prices stabilised. Brent crude futures fell to $105 per barrel earlier in the day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly said Washington may soon lift sanctions on Iranian crude stored aboard tankers, in an attempt to offset supply pressures caused by Iran’s seizure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The relief also came after Israel’s Prime Minister reportedly said there would be no further attacks on Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure. Earlier, both the IEA and the US had indicated they would release emergency crude reserves, but that did little to curb the rally in oil prices.
According to media reports, the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan said in a joint statement on Thursday that they are “ready to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
(more to come)