During the session benchmarks turned highly volatile owing to monthly expiry of index and stock futures and option contracts for the month of January. The SENSEX traded in a band of 996 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high 25,246.65 and a low of 24,932.55.
The SENSEX ended 320 points higher at 81,857 and NIFTY50 index advanced 127 points to close at 25,175.
In the January F&O series NIFTY50 index dropped nearly 3%, data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.
Ten of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the NSE ended higher led by the NIFTY Metal index’s 3% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, IT, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Oil & Gas indices also rose between 0.6%-1.76%.
On the flipside, auto shares faced selling pressure as premium luxury European cars, such as BMW, Mercedes, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Audi, are set to become cheaper in the Indian market once the bilateral free trade agreement comes into force, likely next year, as India will offer quota-based import duty concessions under the pact.
Consumer durables, media and FMCG shares also witnessed selling pressure.
Broader markets ended in-line with their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.6% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.41%.
JSW Steel was among the top gainers in the NIFTY50 index, the stock ended 4.55% higher at ₹1,223 after the company on Friday reported strong set of earnings in the third quarter of current financial year.
Billionaire Sajjan Jindal-backed company on Friday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹2,139 crore in October-December period, marking an increase of 198% from ₹717 crore in the same period last year.
JSW Steel’s revenue from operations advanced 11% to ₹45,991 crore in December quarter compared with ₹41,378 crore, in the corresponding period last year.
JSW Steel reported stable operational performance as its EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) also known as operating profit advanced 16% to ₹6,496 crore and its EBITDA margin improved by 60 basis points to 14.12%.
Adani Enterprises was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 5.3% to close at ₹1,963.
Axis Bank advanced 5% after net profit for the bank jumped 3% YoY on strong double-digit credit growth and improved asset quality in the quarter.
Axis Bank reported its Q3FY26 earnings on Monday, posting strong growth across the board. The net-interest income for the quarter jumped 4% sequentially and 5% YoY to ₹14,287 crore as against ₹13,606 crore, while the net-interest margin stood at 3.6%. The core operating profit for the quarter jumped to 7% YoY to ₹10,815 crore.
Adani Ports, Grasim, Tata Consumer Products and Tata Steel also rose between 2.93%-4.5%.
On the flipside, Asian Paints fell 2.8% to close at ₹2,682 after it reported a decline of 4.83% in consolidated net profit at ₹1,073.92 crore in the December quarter of FY26 on a year-on-year basis on account of exceptional items as implementation of the new labour code and impairment of loss in a subsidiary.
Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Max Healthcare, Eternal, Tata Motors PV and Bajaj Finserv were also among the losers in the NIFTY50 index.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,632 shares ended higher while 1,566 closed lower on the NSE.