Sensex Rallies 834 Points From Day's Low; Nifty Snaps 3-Day Losing Streak

The equity benchmarks staged a smart recovery from intra-day lows on Monday, led by strong buying interest in index heavyweight Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, State Bank of India, HDFC and Bajaj Finance. The benchmarks had a gap-down opening, wherein the Sensex fell as much as 604 points and Nifty touched an intraday low of 15,505 mirroring losses in global markets after comments by Federal Reserve on interest rates. Federal Reserve official James Bullard had said the US central bank might raise interest rates sooner than previously expected.

The Sensex ended 230 points or 0.44 per cent higher to close at 52,574 and Nifty 50 index advanced 63 points to close at 15,476.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said last week he was among the seven officials who expect rate hikes beginning next year, spooking investors already worried about the U.S. central bank's projection, during its policy meeting, of rate increases by end-2023.

Buying was visible across sectors as sixteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by the BSE ended higher, led by the S&P BSE Power index's 2.5 per cent gain. Realty, Oil & Gas, Utilities, Energy and Finance indices also rose 0.8-2 per cent each.

On the other hand, IT, auto and teck indices ended lower.

Mid- and small-cap shares also staged a strong recovery from lower levels as S&P BSE MidCap and S&P BSE SmallCap indexes rose nearly 1 per cent after dipping in the red.

Adani Group shares rallied on reports that the promoters purchased shares from the open market after a sharp drop in the Adani Group shares last week.

Adani Ports was top Nifty gainer; the stock rose 5 per cent to Rs 730. NTPC, Titan, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement, HDFC, HDFC Life, UltraTech Cement, Coal India and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the gainers.

On the flip side, UPL, Wipro, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Hindalco, tech Mahindra, TCS, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, Infosys and Cipla were among the losers.