Sensex snaps 4-day losses, ends 581 pts higher, Nifty reclaims 16K; realty, IT stocks lead

Snapping four sessions losing streak, the domestic benchmarks closed higher in choppy trade on Tuesday, led by gains in realty, IT, technology, and pharma stocks. Markets opened lower today, in line with Asian peers and negative finish at Wall Street overnight, but rebounded strongly in the final-hour trade following positive cues from European markets. The continued rise in commodity prices, especially Brent crude, as well as drop in the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar capped the market’s gain.

The BSE Sensex rallied as much as 1,163 points from the day's low to end 581 points or 1.1% higher at 53,424 levels. In a similar trend, the Nifty50 index rebounded from its intraday low of 15,671 to settle at 16,013, up 150 points or 0.95%.

"Domestic indices reversed their trend and traded with gains led by export-oriented sectors like pharma and IT which witnessed buying interest as the rupee fell to its record lows. Favourable exit poll results of state election and low-level buying seen in mid and small caps also helped in adding optimism in the domestic market,” says Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

He further says, “Major western markets were also trading in the green while other Asian peers continued to trade in negative territory on fear of the impact of global inflationary pressure due to the ban on Russia’s oil export."

In line with benchmark indices, the broader markets also ended higher. The S&P BSE Midcap index and the BSE Smallcap index added 1.46% and 1.33%, respectively.

The overall market breadth on the BSE was negative, with 2,678 shares declining of a total of 3,591 traded stocks. As many as 786 shares advanced and 126 were unchanged.

IT, realty sectors lead rally

The market staged a strong recovery in the final hours of the day’s trade with most of the sectoral indices ending higher. The information technology and realty space gained the most, while metal and oil & gas sectors were among the worst performers.

The BSE realty index closed 3.2% higher, led by Sobha, DLF, Oberoi Realty, Godrej Industries and Macrotech Developers.

The realty sector was followed by the BSE IT index, which closed 2.44% higher. The best performers in the IT space were Nucleus Software Exports, Datamatics Global Services, Ramco Systems, 3i Infotech, and Birlasoft.

Top gainers and losers

The BSE barometer Sensex swung between gains and losses during the session, with 24 of top 30 shares ending in the green zone. The top gainer on the Sensex pack was pharma major Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, which ended 4% higher. Among others, Tata Consultancy Services, NTPC, Wipro and Tech Mahindra rose in the range of 3.3% to 2.7%.

On the losing side, Tata Steel, the country’s largest steelmaker, topped the chart with a 1.73% loss. The other notable losers were Power Grid Corporation of India, Titan Company, Nestle India and Reliance Industries, which fell up to 0.5%.

Asian stocks extend loss, European markets buck trend

Global equity markets witnessed mixed trade on Tuesday, with Asian shares closing in red, while European shares edge higher in early deals. In the overnight trade, all three major U.S. indices closed lower as reports of a ban on oil imports from Russia pushed crude prices to record high, reigniting concerns about rising inflation.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.7%, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong fell 1.4%, and the Straits Times Index in Singapore dipped 1.2%.

In a similar trend, Thailand’s SET Composite slipped 0.5%, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite dropped 0.8%, South Korea’s KOSPI shed 1.09%, Taiwan Weighted index fell 2.06%, and Australia’s ASX 200 index ended 0.83% lower.

In mainland China, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite nosedived 2.6% and 2.35%, respectively.

Meanwhile, European stocks edged higher in early trade amid buying in beaten down stocks. Germany’s DAX rose 1.27%, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index added 0.1%. France’s CAC index climbed 1.6%, while Spain’s IBEX 35 surged 2.5%.