Sensex, Nifty stage a surprise recovery

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded sharply by about one per cent on Friday, propelled by bargain hunting in telecommunication, tech and consumer durable stocks amid encouraging domestic inflation data.

After falling 1,207.14 points in morning trade, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex recovered all the lost ground later and jumped 843.16 points or 1.04 per cent to settle at 82,133.12. During the day, it surged 923.96 points or 1.13 per cent to 82,213.92. The NSE Nifty climbed 219.60 points or 0.89 per cent to settle at 24,768.30 after falling 367.9 points in intra-day trade. On the weekly front, the BSE benchmark jumped 623.07 points or 0.76 per cent, and the Nifty climbed 90.5 points or 0.36 per cent. “The domestic market smartly recovered from the day’s low and moved out of the consolidation path led by index heavyweights. A gradual easing in food inflation and a price hike by FMCG companies, along with a recent correction in valuation, supported the sector to outperform. Currently, the market is anticipating a revival in consumer spending, driven by the festive season and year-end holidays, adding to the sentiments. Additionally, the expectation of an increase in US spending is propelling the IT sector,” Vinod Nair, Head (Research), Geojit Financial Services. Among sectoral indices, telecommunication jumped 2.13 per cent, teck (1.32 per cent), consumer durables (1.14 per cent), FMCG (1.07 per cent), bankex (0.81 per cent), and IT (0.57 per cent). “Markets quickly bounced back from its weak opening and surged ahead in intra-day trade as moderating inflation enthused investors to resort to value buying in banking, IT and telecom stocks,” said Prashanth Tapse, senior V-P (research), Mehta Equities Ltd. Metal, services, commodities and industrials were the losers.

“The markets were up as the drop in headline inflation comes as a relief, allowing the central bank to start cutting rates from February. Meanwhile, the VIX decreased by another 7.7 per cent for the week, settling at 13.05,” Ameya Ranadive, Chartered Market Technician, CFTe, Sr Technical Analyst, StoxBox, said.

Among the 30-share Sensex blue-chip pack, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, and Power Grid were the biggest gainers. On the other hand, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, JSW Steel and Bajaj Finserv were the laggards. Contrary to the overall market trend, the BSE smallcap gauge declined 0.29 per cent, and the midcap index dipped 0.08 per cent.