Mumbai, May 20: Benchmark Sensex recovered from early losses to settle 117 points higher on Wednesday, helped by a rally in Reliance Industries, even as investors remained cautious due to higher crude prices and a weaker rupee.
The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 117.54 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 75,318.39. The index opened lower and fell by 671.44 points, or 0.89 per cent, to a day’s low of 74,529.41. However, buying in oil & gas, financial and auto shares in the last hour helped the index trim losses and rebound around 877 points from the day’s low.
The 50-share NSE Nifty edged higher by 41 points, or 0.17 per cent, to end at 23,659. The barometer moved between a low of 23,397.30 and a high of 23,690.90 during the day.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Reliance Industries rallied 2.83 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, Trent, InterGlobe Aviation, Axis Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the winners.
Bharat Electronics, Tech Mahindra, Eternal and Tata Steel were among the major laggards.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 2 per cent lower at USD 109 per barrel.
“Markets recovered from intraday lows, supported by selective buying in large-cap stocks across autos, financials, and oil & gas,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
However, persistent rupee weakness and elevated crude prices continue to weigh on sentiment due to concerns around inflation and margin pressures, while FII flows remain mixed, he added.
Broader markets also advanced as the BSE MidCap Select index jumped 1.02 per cent and the SmallCap Select index rose by 0.16 per cent. Among sectoral indices, Power surged the most by 1.78 per cent, followed by Oil & Gas (1.37 per cent), Capital Goods (1.52 per cent), Energy (1.45 per cent), Industrials (0.91 per cent) and Auto (0.82 per cent).
FMCG declined 0.63 per cent, Focused IT (0.27 per cent), IT (0.24 per cent) and Consumer Durables (0.15 per cent). A total of 2,120 stocks advanced, while 1,981 declined and 209 remained unchanged on the BSE.
“The initial weakness in domestic equities was primarily driven by rising global bond yields, elevated crude oil prices, and continued geopolitical uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran conflict,” Ajit Mishra, SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
The rupee weakened to a fresh record low against the US dollar, inching closer to the 97 mark, while persistent foreign institutional outflows further weighed on market sentiment. The rupee hit a record low of 96.95 to a US dollar before settling at 96.84 to a dollar, down by 14 paise.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended lower.
Markets in Europe were trading higher. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was an hour away from making a decision to restart attacks on Iran, but put it off after receiving a call from interlocutors, including Qatar and the UAE, on Tehran being “reasonable” in the peace talks.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,457.49 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
On Tuesday, the Sensex declined 114.19 points, or 0.15 per cent, to settle at 75,200.85. The Nifty dipped 31.95 points, or 0.14 per cent, to end at 23,618. (PTI)
