Key indices on bourses pare early loss
Asian, European equities; buying in RIL, L&T, Infy, Maruti propelled Sensex, Nifty upwards
image for illustrative purpose
Mumbai: Benchmark Sensex rebounded from early lows to settle higher by 173 points on Wednesday following buying in Reliance Industries, L&T and ITC and positive trends in Asian and European markets.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 173.22 points or 0.26 per cent to settle at 66,118.69 with 20 of its components ending in the green and 10 closing lower. The index opened lower and fell further to a low of 65,549.96 in morning trade. However, buying in Reliance, L&T, Infosys and Maruti helped it recover losses. Later, it jumped 226.8 points or 0.34 per cent to a high of 66,172.27. The Nifty gained 51.75 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 19,716.45. It moved between a low of 19,554 and a high of 19,730.70 in day trading.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Sun Pharma, Maruti, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers. Titan, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Tata Steel and Nestle were the major laggards.
“The market inched higher in the second half, driven by positive openings in European markets. Concerns about global interest rates and elevated oil prices are being balanced by several domestic factors, such as promising economic growth prospects and the potential for strong earnings, which validate the premium valuation. Persistent outflows of foreign funds and rising US bond yields are expected to keep the broader indices in bleak terrain, in the near term,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Persistent outflows of foreign funds and rising US bond yields are expected to keep the broader indices in bleak terrain, in the near term, Nair added. Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd said that markets remained volatile but ended higher due to recovery in select heavyweights. "The impending rebound in select heavyweights like Reliance and ITC largely contributed to the recovery," Mishra said, adding that the scheduled monthly expiry of derivative contracts would keep the volatility high. In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.76 per cent and smallcap index jumped 0.68 per cent.
Among the indices, capital goods jumped 1.14 per cent, healthcare climbed 1.13 per cent, industrials (0.97 per cent), FMCG (0.77 per cent), realty (0.70 per cent), IT (0.48 per cent) and teck (0.43 per cent). Bankex, consumer durables and oil & gas were the laggards.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green. European markets were trading mostly in positive territory. The US markets ended lower on Tuesday. Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.98 per cent to $94.88 a barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 693.47 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
