Markets rebound on value buying

Mumbai: Benchmark BSE Sensex rebounded by over one per cent on Thursday following value buying in banking, IT and auto shares after two days of losses and a largely positive trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE barometer climbed 659.31 points or 1.12 per cent to settle at 59,688.22 as 24 of its constituents advanced. During the day, it jumped 683.05 points or 1.15 per cent to 59,711.96. The broader NSE Nifty also bounced back by 174.35 points or 0.99 per cent to close at 17,798.75 with 33 stocks closing with gains.

Foreign fund inflows and cooling crude oil prices bolstered the investor sentiment, analysts said. Tech Mahindra rose the most by 3.23 per cent among Sensex shares. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints emerged as the biggest gainers among Sensex shares. Tata Steel, NTPC, Titan, Nestle and Power Grid were the laggards.

"The domestic financial markets experienced a wave of optimism tracking strength across global markets as oil prices eased, cooling investor concerns about rising inflation. Despite premium valuations, consistent FII inflows are aiding Indian bourses to stay resilient," Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, said that "markets traded upbeat on the weekly derivatives expiry day, tracking firm global cues. Buoyancy across sectors, especially banking and financials, kept participants busy. Buying in mid-cap and small-cap space added to the positivity."

"Positive global cues with cooling oil prices and all time high demat account openings in the country helped pull the sentiments in favour of bulls as BFSI coupled with the PSU banks led the charge today with a percentage gain in the Nifty. Several cement counters were seen buzzing around for the second consecutive day even as the metal index remained sluggish with a percentage loss,"said S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP Securities.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 758.37 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.60 per cent and midcap index ended higher by 0.29 per cent. Among the BSE sectoral indices, bank jumped 1.94 per cent, followed by finance (1.54 per cent), teck (1.04 per cent), IT (1.02 per cent) and telecom (0.71 per cent). Utilities, consumer durables, metal, power and realty were the laggards. A total of 2,062 stocks advanced, while 1,402 declined and 125 remained unchanged.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower. Equities in Europe were trading on a mixed note during the mid-session deals. The US markets had ended significantly higher on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.49 per cent to $87.57 per barrel.