In highly volatile trading, stock benchmarks Sensex and Nifty rallied sharply on Tuesday after four days of sharp declines, buoyed by IT and real estate meter buying.
The 30-leg BSE Sensex opened weak and fell 581.93 points, or 1.10%, to 52,260.82 on the day on a backdrop of firming oil prices and unrelenting selling by overseas institutional investors.
Amid huge swings, the benchmark hit a high of 53,484.26 and a low of 52,260.82 during the session.
It eventually settled at 53,424.09, up 581.34 points, or 1.10%.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 115.75 points, or 0.72%, to 15,747.40 in opening trade before closing at 16,013.45, up 150.30 points, or 0.95%.
On Monday, the Sensex ended at 52,842.75, down 1,491.06 points, or 2.74%, while the Nifty lost 382.20 points, or 2.35%, to end at 15,863.15.
The 30-stock package included Sun Pharma, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories and Infosys were the biggest gainers, rising to 3.99%.
In contrast, laggards included Tata Steel, Nestle, Titan Company, PowerGrid, Reliance Industries Limited and State Bank of India.
In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap index was up 1.46% and the small-cap index was up 1.33%.
“Domestic indices reversed trend and traded for profits, led by export-oriented sectors such as pharmaceuticals and IT, which saw buying interest as the rupee fell to record lows. Caps also helped boost optimism in the domestic market.
“Major western markets also traded in the green, while other Asian peers continued to trade in negative territory on fears of the impact of global inflationary pressures…” said Vinod Nair, director of research at Geojit Financial Services.
Stock exchanges in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo settled lower.
Stock exchanges in the US closed in negative territory and fell sharply on Monday.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent rose 2.87% to $126.6 a barrel.
“US stocks tumbled as investors continued to sell stocks and hoard safe haven assets as concerns mounted over the economic fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Dow Jones fell 2.4% while the S&P 500 lost 2.95%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 3.6%,” said Mitul Shah, head of research at Reliance Securities.
Overseas institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they sold ₹7,482.08 crore of shares on a net basis, according to stock market data on Monday.
