Stock Market Highlights: Markets end higher; Nifty closes over 22,800, Sensex jumps almost 1,200 points

Mid and small-cap stocks are gaining momentum, tracking the broader market rally. The BSE Smallcap Index has surged over 2% to 44,893.93, while the Midcap Index is up 1.7% at 40,043.40.

In the afternoon trade, the Sensex surged 951.28 points or 1.28%, reaching 75,121.23. Meanwhile, the Nifty climbed 279.55 points or 1.24%, trading at 22,788.30.

Bajaj Finserv shares slipped 1.8% to an intraday low of Rs 1,837, emerging as the biggest loser in the Nifty 50. The decline followed Bajaj Group’s announcement of a share purchase agreement with Allianz SE to acquire its stakes in their joint ventures.

Tata Motors shares surged 2% in intraday trading, reaching Rs 674.25. The rally comes after the company's announcement on March 17 that it will increase prices of its commercial vehicles by up to 2%, effective April 1, 2025.

"On the daily chart, it has formed a bullish candle, and on the intraday chart, it is maintaining a higher bottom formation, which is largely positive. We believe that as long as the market is trading above 22,350/73,800, the bullish sentiment is likely to continue. On the higher side, 22,600/74,500 would be the immediate resistance zone for the upside. After a breakout above 22,600/74,500, the market may head towards 22,675-22,750/74,700-74,900. On the other hand, if the market drops below 22,350/73,800, the sentiment may change. Below this level, traders may prefer to exit their long positions," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities.

"Upside bias persisted on anticipated lines throughout yesterday, despite 22580 stepping in to keep a lid as feared. Nevertheless, the piercing candle formed thereof encourages us to continue playing the upsides, for which we had earlier set a 23000-23500 objective. For now, our upside target will be limited to 22750 though, with the downside marker pushed higher to 22470," said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"Broad indications are that the market has bottomed out even though further corrections cannot be completely ruled out. Positive domestic cues like rebound on FY25 Q3 GDP growth to 6.2%, spurt in the IIP by 5.1%, increase in gross tax collection by 16%, declining trade deficit and more importantly decline in CPI inflation to 3.6% are positive macro trends which augur well for the market," said Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"But these domestic tailwinds are not strong enough to take the market to higher levels on a sustained basis since the global headwinds from tariff wars will counter the domestic tailwinds," he added.

In the pre-opening session, both the domestic indices, Sensex and Nifty were trading on a higher note.

Tata Motors, Religare Enterprises, IREDA, Swiggy, Bank of Maharashtra, IRCON International, Aditya Birla Real Estate, JM Financial, Suryoday Small Finance Bank, NBCC India are among the stocks in focus today.

The GIFT Nifty indicates a positive start for the indices, as of the early trends.

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