Sensex Rises Over 300 Points, Nifty Touches 10,500 As Markets Recover Early Losses

Domestic stock markets recovered early losses after a negative start on Wednesday, resuming trade after a day's holiday. The S&P BSE Sensex index rose as much as 308.15 points to touch 35,943.10 in the first few minutes of trade, after opening at 35,468.90, and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark climbed to as high as 10,529.55, up 78.1 points from the previous close, after starting the session at 10,334.30. Buying in banking, automobile and energy shares pushed the markets higher, however gains were called by selling in IT stocks.

At 9:32 am, the Sensex traded 272.55 points - or 0.76 per cent - higher at 35,907.50, while the Nifty was up 57.95 points - or 0.55 per cent - at 10,509.40. 

Twenty eight in the Nifty basket of 50 shares moved higher at the time. Top percentage gainers were Yes Bank, Zee Entertainment, Reliance Industries, Bharti Infratel and Hero MotoCorp, trading between 2.59 per cent and 14.82 per cent higher. 

On the other hand, GAIL, Infosys, Cipla, Tech Mahindra and Wipro - down between 2.45 per cent and 4.13 per cent - were the top Nifty losers.

Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank were the biggest contributors to the gain in Sensex, together accounting for a rise of 225 points in the index.

Equities in other Asian markets fell again on Wednesday after regaining some ground, along with Wall Street futures, following a brutal global selloff on Monday that was triggered by the double shock of an oil price crash and the worsening outbreak.

In early Asian trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.29 per cent, Australian shares down 2.02 per cent and Japan's Nikkei stock index down 1.28 per cent. US stock futures traded 2.2 per cent lower. 

On Monday, the oil market had collapsed and futures saw their largest percentage drop since 1991 Gulf War as a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia broke out.

On the same day, the S&P BSE Sensex index had declined 1,941.67 points - or 5.17 per cent - to end at 35,634.95 and the broader NSE Nifty benchmark shed 538.00 points - or 4.90 per cent - to settle at 10,451.45, in the worst day for the markets in four and a half years following the largest percentage drop in oil rates since 1991 Gulf War.

Analysts say investors need to remain on guard for further market volatility, because the coronavirus still poses a risk to public health in many countries, which could place additional strains on the global economy.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors have pulled out a net Rs 12,478.31 crore - or $1.71 billion - from domestic equities so far this month, and are set to turn net sellers after six months, data shows.