NEW DELHI, Oct. 21: India’s benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rose for the second day in early trade on Wednesday, with buying in information technology stocks and Reliance Industries helping the market rebound from the previous session’s sharp losses.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 822.64 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 74,675.54 in morning trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty advanced 217.65 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 23,106.60.
IT stocks and Reliance buying lift sentiment
Among Sensex constituents, Infosys led the gainers, rising more than 3 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services climbed about 2.6 per cent and UltraTech Cement added roughly 2.3 per cent. Tech Mahindra, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints were also among the gainers.
A separate set of stocks weighed on the index as Bajaj Finance, Bharat Electronics Ltd, IndiGo, Trent, Eternal, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan and Axis Bank were among the laggards.
Market participants also pointed to the start of the second-quarter earnings season. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Ltd, said the “Q2 results season” had begun on a “positive note”, adding that the next phase would likely become “more stock-specific and results-sensitive”. He said the market action would increasingly reflect earnings surprises even as the broader environment continues to present headwinds.
Jio Platforms IPO draws strong early interest
Alongside stock moves, the report noted strong participation in the Rs 30,213-crore IPO of Jio Platforms, which attracted 85 per cent subscription within minutes of opening.
Domestic institutional support offsets foreign selling
Trading conditions were shaped by flows from institutional investors. The report said Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers and offloaded equities worth Rs 1,148.64 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 3,201.19 crore, according to exchange data.
Sachin Gupta, VP – Technical Research at Choice Broking Pvt Ltd, said FIIs were “offloading equities worth approximately Rs 1,148 crore”. He added that DIIs continued to support the market with net purchases of around Rs 3,200 crore, partially offsetting the foreign outflows amid broader weakness.
Global cues mixed as oil rises
Equities in India had been closed on Tuesday for Dussehra. Overseas markets were described as mixed: South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.6 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained nearly 1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and China’s Shanghai SSE Composite index traded lower.
In the US, markets ended “largely higher” on Tuesday.
Oil prices also nudged higher. Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 1.46 per cent to USD 110.38 per barrel, according to the report.
What comes next
Traders indicated that the immediate direction may remain sensitive to overseas developments and the start of Q2 results. Gupta said market participants may stay selective, with global cues and earnings likely to determine intraday movement.
The rebound came after a sharp decline in the prior session. On Monday, the Sensex had fallen 876.37 points to settle at 73,852.90 and the Nifty had dropped 257.20 points to close at 22,888.95.
