Sensex rebounds 159 pts, Nifty closes above 18,800 on fag-end buying in IT, oil shares

Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back from early lows to close higher in a volatile session on Tuesday helped by fag-end buying in IT, teck, power and utilities shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex settled higher by 159.40 points or 0.25 per cent to 63,327.70. The index traded in negative territory for the most part of the session and hit a low of 62,801.91.

The NSE Nifty advanced 61.25 points or 0.33 per cent to end at 18,816.70.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, Nestle, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys were among the major gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank and State Bank of India were the major laggards.

"The Indian market opened cautiously due to weak global cues, with heightened concerns over the Chinese economy following their decision to cut interest rates after a 10-month pause.

"Global worries were amplified by concerns of a possible rate hike by the US Fed in its July meeting, with investors eagerly awaiting Powell’s testimony. However, the indices managed to recover smartly, led by upside in IT and auto stocks," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Markets settled higher in a volatile trading session, in continuation of the prevailing trend, Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

"Among the sectoral pack, financials, IT and auto-posted decent gains while defensive viz. pharma and FMCG traded subdued. Amid all, the broader indices managed to gain nearly half a per cent each," Mishra said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.47 per cent and smallcap index advanced 0.40 per cent.

Among the indices, power gained 1.02 per cent, utilities jumped 0.94 per cent, auto (0.85 per cent), IT (0.78 per cent), teck (0.67 per cent) and metal (0.63 per cent).

Services, oil & gas, energy and industrials were the laggrads.

In Asian markets, Tokyo ended in the green, while Seoul, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled in the negative territory.

Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly lower.

The US markets were closed on Monday on the observance of the Juneteenth holida.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.22 per cent to USD 77.02 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,030.90 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. PTI SUM MR