Sensex, Nifty rebound nearly 1 pc as auto, IT shares advance

Mumbai, Jun 23 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty on rebounded on Thursday to close higher by nearly 1 per cent on gains in auto, IT and banking shares, shrugging off US recession woes and mixed global trends.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 443.19 points or 0.86 per cent to settle at 52,265.72 with 27 of its scrips ending in green. During the day, it rallied 694.26 points or 1.33 per cent to 52,516.79.

The NSE Nifty advanced 143.35 points or 0.93 per cent to 15,556.65 points as 45 of its constituents ended with gains.

"Weak global markets and recession woes following Fed Chair’s testimony failed to discourage Indian bourses. The domestic market is showcasing potency to sustain the momentum in the short to medium-term," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

However, FIIs are continuing their selling, limiting the trend, Nair added.

During the afternoon session, markets trimmed some of their gains as European markets struggled to shrug-off recession fears, but local stock indices managed to end in the green, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi Shares & Stock Brokers.

Maruti was the biggest gainer among Sensex stocks, spurting by 6.33 per cent. M&M jumped 4.41 per cent, Asian Paints by 3.39 per cent, Bharti Airtel by 2.96 per cent and HUL by 1.94 per cent.

Among IT stocks, TCS rose by 2.7 per cent, Wipro by 1.97 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.11 per cent anf Infosys by 1.1 per cent.

ICICI Bank gained 1.86 oer cent, IndusInd Bank by 1.2 per cent, and Kotak Bank by 0.95 per cent.

On the other hand, Reliance fell the most by 1.62 per cent among Sensex shares. NTPC dropped 0.94 per cent and Power Grid by 0.9 per cent.

"Advancement of the southwest monsoon beyond the Eastern parts of the country coupled with a cool off in Oil buoyed Auto stocks today as they led the charge on the Benchmark Indices with good support from the IT stocks," S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities said.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said that the trend across global markets was mixed after the Fed chairman suggested an increase in interest rates in the coming time to fight inflation.

The US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said a recession is possible as the US central bank raises interest rates to cool surging inflation. Investors are fearing that US and European rate hikes may derail global growth.

In the broader domestic market, the BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.40 per cent and smallcap index went up by 1.18 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, auto jumped the most by 4.42 per cent, followed by consumer discretionary goods & services (2.40 per cent), Information Technology (1.87 per cent), teck (1.85 per cent) and telecom (1.81 per cent). Energy and oil & gas indices ended lower.

As many as 2,096 stocks advanced, while 1,208 declined and 130 remained unchanged.

Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo ended with gains while Seoul settled lower. European markets were trading in the red in mid-session deals.

The US markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 709.54 points or 1.35 per cent to settle at 51,822.53 on Wednesday. The NSE Nifty fell 225.50 points or 1.44 per cent to end at 15,413.30.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.92 per cent to USD 109.60 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold shares worth Rs 2,920.61 crore on Wednesday, as per exchange data.