Stock Market Highlights: Sensex ends 350 pts higher, Nifty50 crosses 17,300 led by financial, IT stocks; VIX falls 6%

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Prefer PVs, auto ancillaries to two-wheelers in auto space: Kunj Bansal

Kunj Bansal of Investment-Illiteracy.com prefers passenger vehicles and auto ancillaries to two wheelers in the auto space, as the two are more geared towards the electrical vehicle segment. "There we have 3-4 factors supporting sharp price correction over the last few months," he says.

"These are good contra buys and growth will come in as and when we see not only IC engine-oriented vehicle growth, but even the EV-oriented growth. Two-wheelers are still looking like they are having challenges on the demand side because of the higher cost of buying as well as operating," he adds. 

Some two-wheeler cos have corrected, concerned about four-wheeler cos: Abhiram Eleswarapu

Abhiram Eleswarapu, Head-India Equity at BNP Paribas India, is concerned about four-wheeler manufacturers, a segment where estimates in his view remain quite bullish. 

“There are some two-wheeler companies that have corrected quite a bit. I do understand that input prices are going down and demand is a little bit shaky but may be estimates have factored in some of that," he says. 

Rupee ends higher at 75.99 vs US dollar

The rupee finishes the day at 75.99 against the greenback. On Monday, it had settled at 76.16.

Market At Close | Eicher, HDFC, Divi's, Adani Ports top blue-chip gainers

JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, UltraTech, SBI Life and Cipla also among the top gainers. 

Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Coal India, Indian Oil, ITC, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank the worst hit among the 18 losers in the Nifty50 basket. 

Here's how the 30-scrip pack looks: 

Market At Close | Sensex, Nifty50 boosted by economy-facing stocks; HDFC twins top movers

Here are some highlights: 

--Hero MotoCorp falls 7 percent; sources say I-T department finds bogus claims of over Rs 1,000 crore

--Eicher Motors top Nifty gainer, up 4 percent

--Bharti Airtel continues to gain momentum, within 3 percent of record high

--Cement shares rise on expectations of price hike; UltarTech, Shree up 2 percent

--SBI Life rises 2 percent after stake sale by Canda Pension Fund in block deal window

--ONGC, Oil India slip amid fall in crude oil rates

--Escorts, IDFC, Zee Entertainment, GSPL, PNB top midcap losers

--Max Financial rises 5 percent after CLSA maintains 'buy' call 

--Pharma stocks rise as regulator allows hike in drug prices; Ipca, Divi’s surge

--Indian Hotels continues to rise on improved demand

--Market breadth favours bears; advance-decline ratio at 2:3

Closing Bell | Sensex up 350 points, Nifty50 at 17,325

Both headline indices finish the day 0.6 percent higher, rising for a second straight session. The Sensex gains 350.2 points to end at 57,943.7 and the Nifty50 settles at 17,325.3, up 103.3 points from its previous close. 

Won't be surprised if Bharti Airtel rises to Rs 820-830 levels soon: Prakash Diwan

Market expert Prakash Diwan is positive on Bharti Airtel, a stock he won't be surprised to see cross Rs around Rs 820-830 levels soon. "There is a very clear reset of expectations as far as Bharti Airtel is concerned. The company is trying to cover all the tracks in terms of experimentation in its India business... The Africa business was the one that actually has been inspiring. The company turned it around, and realised what is working for it out there... That is what it tries to replicate in the India business as well," he says. 

The company has another advantage in Diwan's view: it is not a price taker anymore but a price maker. "Here is a unique model that Bharti sits on and I think people are recognising that," he adds.  

Bharti Airtel shares up 2.8 percent at Rs 754.1 minutes before the closing bell. During the session, the stock rose to as high as Rs 762.9, coming within a 52-week high hit about four months ago. 

Firm gold rates have helped Muthoot Finance on collateral side: George Alexander Muthoot

George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director at Muthoot Finance, tells CNBC-TV18 that firm gold prices have helped the company on the collateral side. He also says Q4 has been good for the company so far and the coming quarters look promising as well.

He says the company has miniscule investments in microfinance institutions. (Read more)

Buy IFB Industries, Indian Hotels: Jay Thakkar

Jay Thakkar of Marwadi Shares & Finance shares two trading calls: 

--Buy IFB Industries for a target of Rs 1,250 with a stop loss at Rs 900 

--Buy Indian Hotels for a target of Rs 250-265 with a stop loss at Rs 217 

Gradual hikes in fuel prices to continue: Sources

Gradual increases in fuel prices will continue as the government is looking at a slow pass-through of oil price shocks instead of a one-time steep hike, sources tell CNBC-TV18. "Don’t want to shock the economy on fuel prices," they say.

Fuel prices have been increased for seven times in eight days as oil marketing companies look to pare losses from the rise in global oil rates amid supply concerns arising due to the Russia-Ukraine war. (Read more)

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Veranda Learning Solutions IPO subscribed 46% so far on Day 1

By 2:45 pm, Veranda Learning Solutions' IPO received bids for 54.5 lakh shares as against the 1.2 crore shares on offer, a subscription of 46 percent. 

Here's how investors across categories responded to the public offer: 

--NII: 27 percent

--Retail: 3.1 times

--QIB: 0 percent

OMCs losing Rs 10-12 a litre on fuels: ICRA's Prashant Vashisht 

Prashant Vashisht of ICRA tells CNBC-TV18 that India's crude prices will be adjusted to global levels over the April-May period. He believes oil marketing companies are currently losing Rs 10-12 per litre on fuels. 

Historically, India's dependence on Russian crude oil Historically has been lower, he says. 

The Russian crude oil price is only marginally lower than other varieties, he adds. 

"Since this was sudden change of process and system had to consider these changes, for few updates in cumulative bids details section only BSE bids data was shown instead of cumulative data of both the exchanges," BSE says. The same was restored to the previous day's data, it adds. 

Ruchi Soya, Adani Power, RCF, Tanla top BSE 500 gainers

GSFC, Vaibhav Global, Birla Corp and Respond also rose the most among the 270 gainers on BSE's broadest index.