BENGALURU: Indian shares struggled for direction in a volatile session on Monday, ahead of the Union budget, as select Adani stocks arrested the slide after a short-seller attack on group companies triggered a sell-off over the previous two sessions The Nifty 50 index closed 0.25% higher at 17,648.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.29% to 59,500.41. Both the indexes swung between 0.6% gains and 1.1% losses during the session before settling a notch higher.

The move in the benchmarks tracked the intraday trajectory of high-weightage financials, which rose 0.33% at the close.

Financials had dragged the index over the previous two sessions. Indian equities had tumbled to a three-month low on Friday, dragged by a short-seller attack on Adani group companies, which triggered a selloff in banks.

The group faced a critical session today with the secondary share sale of the flagship Adani Enterprises seeing only 2% subscription as of 3:33 p.m. IST on Monday.

“The markets will remain very volatile ahead of the budget,” Aishvarya Dadheech, director and fund manager at Ambit Asset Management said. The India volatility index rose more than 2% to 17.71 on Monday, marking a three-month high.

Analysts also flagged fears of a drawdown in financials on the back of a scathing report by Hindenburg Research that raised concerns about the books of Adani companies.