Mumbai: Stock markets bounced back strongly on Thursday after a sharp fall in early trade, helped by buying in IT stocks at lower levels. Both benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, recovered all their losses and turned positive during mid-session trade.
Sharp Fall In Early Trade
The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped heavily in the morning, falling 1,588.51 points to an intraday low of 71,545.81. At the same time, the NSE Nifty also declined sharply by 496.85 points, touching a low of 22,182.55. The fall reflected weak global cues and cautious investor sentiment.
Strong Recovery Led By IT Stocks
Markets later staged a strong comeback as investors bought blue-chip IT stocks at lower prices. Sensex recovered fully and was trading at 73,255.52, up 121.2 points or 0.16%. Nifty also bounced back to 22,706.65, gaining 27.25 points or 0.12%.
IT companies led the recovery. Stocks such as HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys rose up to 3%, supporting the indices.
Other Gainers And Losers
Apart from IT stocks, shares of Maruti Suzuki India, Trent, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank and ITC also gained.
However, some stocks remained under pressure. These included Asian Paints, Sun Pharmaceuticals, NTPC, PowerGrid, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, IndiGo, UltraTech Cement and Adani Ports.
Global Markets Weak
Global markets showed weakness, which affected early sentiment. South Korea’s Kospi fell 4.47%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.40%, and China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.74%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng also declined 0.70%.
European markets were also mostly lower. Germany’s DAX fell 1.32% and France’s CAC 40 dropped 0.80%, while the UK’s FTSE 100 was flat. In contrast, US markets had closed higher in the previous session.
Other Key Factors
Brent crude prices rose sharply by 7.18% to $108.42 per barrel, adding to market concerns.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹8,331.15 crore on Wednesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹7,171.80 crore, helping balance the market.
On Wednesday, Sensex had jumped 1,186.77 points to close at 73,134.32, while Nifty rose 348 points to end at 22,679.40.
