Sensex rebounds on fag-end buying; Airtel, banking stocks spurt

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks closed in the positive territory after trading lower for most part of the session on Thursday on fag-end buying in telecom, banking and metal stocks amid expiry of monthly derivative contracts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 223.60 points or 0.37 per cent to settle at 61,133.88. During the day, it had declined 431.22 points or 0.70 per cent to 60,479.06.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty gained 68.50 points or 0.38 per cent to end at 18,191.

Bharti Airtel topped the Sensex gainers' chart with a jump of 1.99 per cent, followed by SBI, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank.

In contrast, Tata Motors, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen & Toubro were the prominent laggards, shedding up to 1.41 per cent.

The market breadth was in favour of the bulls, with 19 advances and 11 declines.

"Markets shrugged off intra-day volatility as last hour buying helped key indices end in the green. Investors covered their positions on the last day of the December monthly expiry, fuelling an upsurge in metals, banking and oil & gas shares on hopes of a demand revival after China lifted COVID-related restrictions.

"But sideways movement will continue going ahead as recessionary fears in the West continue to loom large in view of more likely rate hikes and tempered growth going ahead," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said negative closing of the US market pushed Indian bourses to a poor start.

"However, positive signals from US futures lifted the benchmark index above the flatline. Markets will continue to witness such sudden movements, underpinned by lingering recession and COVID fears, which will be countered by bargain hunters," he added.

In the broader market, the BSE smallcap gauge climbed 0.22 per cent, while the midcap index dipped 0.09 per cent.

Among sectoral indices, oil and gas jumped 1.36 per cent, metal 1.14 per cent, energy 1.09 per cent, bankex 0.93 per cent, utilities 0.88 per cent and services gained 0.59 per cent.

FMCG and capital goods suffered losses.

World markets were mixed as optimism over Beijing relaxing its zero-COVID policy was offset by soaring cases in China and fears of the global economy sliding into recession.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

Equity exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in mid-session deals. Markets in the US had ended in the red on Wednesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.01 per cent to USD 81.59 per barrel.

The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled 2 paise lower at 82.82 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 872.59 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.