Mkts recoup losses on short covering

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded sharply by one per cent on Wednesday after sliding for the past two sessions, propelled by bargain hunting in metal, commodity and telecom stocks. Trading through a patchy track in the opening session, the 30-share BSE Sensex gradually gained ground and jumped 689.76 points, or 0.98 per cent, to settle at 71,060.31. The benchmark moved between an intra-day high of 71,149.61 and a low of 70,001.60. The broader NSE Nifty also closed 215.15 points or 1.01 per cent higher at 21,453.95. The market capitalisaiton (mcap) of BSE-listed companies rose by Rs5.21 lakh crore to Rs3,71,18,500.62 crore (Rs371.18 lakh cr).

“The market rebounded from Tuesday’s sell-off taking cues from global peers. The sentiment was reinforced by the PBOC’s 0.5 per cent cut in reserve ratio to boost growth and financial liquidity. However, overall sentiment is muted as concerns persist on FIIs selling due to premium valuations in India and below expectation Q3 earnings so far,” Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services. The BSE Midcap rose 1.71 per cent to settle at 37,884.28, while the smallcap index rose 1.72 per cent to 44,124.36. Among sectoral indices, telecommunications and metal rose by 3.57 per cent and 3.21 per cent, respectively. While commodities rose 2.06 per cent, oil & gas went up 2.17 per cent and energy increased by 1.95 per cent. The banking sector index was the only laggard, falling marginally by 0.18 per cent.