In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with gains of over half percent, following a rally in Metal, Auto and Realty shares and a positive trend in global markets. However, rising crude oil prices and sustained outflow of foreign funds amid the West Asia crisis, capped the gains.  

Some of the important factors in trade:    

Support measures for exporters on anvil to deal with West Asia crisis: Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said the commerce ministry is expected to announce certain support measures to help exporters deal with the West Asia crisis. 

India’s unemployment dips to 4.9% in February: The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) showed that overall unemployment among persons aged 15 years and above fell marginally to 4.9 per cent in February from 5 per cent in January this year. 

India’s exports dip marginally in February: The government data showed the country's merchandise exports dropped marginally by 0.81 per cent to $36.61 billion in February. Imports increased by 24.11 per cent to $63.71 billion in February this year from $51.33 billion recorded a year ago.

Banks write off Rs 9.75 lakh crore loans in 11 years: Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has said that banks have written off loans worth Rs 9.75 lakh crore in the last 11 financial years. The write off peaked in FY20 at Rs 1.59 lakh crore, and since then it has been declining to Rs 47,568 crore in FY25. 

Global front: European markets were trading in green despite oil prices rising above $100 per barrel on resurgent supply concerns. Asian markets ended mostly higher as traders were looking forward to Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on March 18, 2026. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 567.99 points or 0.75% to 76,070.84 and the CNX Nifty was up by 172.35 points or 0.74% to 23,581.15.            

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 76,304.26 and 75,324.73 respectively. There were 20 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.81%, Auto up by 2.05%, Realty up by 1.79%, Basic Materials up by 1.69% and Industrials up by 1.54%, while IT down by 0.87% and FMCG down by 0.58% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 5.70%, Tata Steel up by 4.41%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 3.12%, Bharat Electronics up by 2.39% and Larsen & Toubro up by 2.29%. On the flip side, Infosys down by 1.37%, Bajaj Finance down by 1.17%, ITC down by 1.05%, TCS down by 0.69% and Adani Ports &SEZ down by 0.65% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry in its latest data has showed that India’s merchandise exports slipped marginally by 0.81 per cent to $36.61 billion in February 2026 as compared to $36.91 billion in the same month last year. Merchandise imports increased by 24.11 per cent to $63.71 billion in February 2026 from $51.33 billion recorded a year ago. As a result, trade deficit (difference between imports and exports) widened to $27.10 billion in February 2026 as compared with $14.42 billion in February 2025. 

According to the data, cumulatively, merchandise exports during April-February 2025-26 were $402.93 billion as compared to $395.66 billion during April-February 2024-25. Merchandise imports during April-February 2025-26 were $713.53 billion as compared to $657.46 billion during April-February 2024-25. Merchandise trade deficit during April-February 2025-26 was $310.60 billion as compared to $261.80 billion during April-February 2024-25. 

Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in February 2026 were $30.55 billion compared to $28.66 billion in February 2025.  Non-petroleum and non-gems & jewellery exports in April-February 2025-26 were $327.96 billion, compared to $310.25 billion in April-February 2024-25. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in February 2026 were $40.33 billion compared to $35.39 billion in February 2025. Non-petroleum, non-gems & jewellery (gold, silver & precious metals) imports in April-February 2025-26 were $454.82 billion, compared to $416.59 billion in April-February 2024-25.

CNX Nifty touched high and low of 23,656.80 and 23,346.60 respectively. There were 34 stocks advancing against 16 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Eternal up by 5.59%, Tata Steel up by 4.42%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.85%, HDFC Life Insurance up by 2.70% and Bharat Electronics up by 2.67%. On the flip side, Wipro down by 2.06%, Cipla down by 1.51%, Tata Consumer Product down by 1.39%, Infosys down by 1.26% and ITC down by 1.23% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 63.2 points or 0.61% to 10,380.89, France’s CAC rose 35.23 points or 0.44% to 7,971.20 and Germany’s DAX gained 60.19 points or 0.26% to 23,624.20. 

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday tracking broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Further, investors were optimistic as the crude oil rates stabilized with the easing supply concerns after Tehran allowed a limited number of vessels from India, Pakistan, and Turkey to navigate the Strait of Hormuz. Besides, rebound in AI-related technology and automobile sector stocks kept the market sentiment upbeat. South Korea's KOSPI advanced the most among Asian indices, marking gains for the second straight session.