Sensex rebounds by 190 points on global cues

Mumbai: After a day's breather, the benchmark BSE Sensex bounced back 190 points today to 23,381.87 led by a rally in stocks of oil & gas, healthcare, auto and metal sectors as buying re-emerged on covering-up of short positions by investors. The broader NSE Nifty too regained the key 7,100-mark. Late recovery in beaten-down state-run lenders stocks on value-buying, particularly, State Bank of India, influenced sentiment.

A mixed trend in other regional markets and a higher opening in Europe also helped. However, concerns prevailed as the rupee depreciated to trade at a 30-month low of 68.67 against the dollar. The 30-share Sensex after opening in the positive, quickly slipped into the negative zone and broke below the 23,000-mark to hit a low of 22,920.84 in late morning deals, tracking reversal of initial trends at other Asian markets on profit-booking. But it staged a strong comeback in the last one hour and closed higher by 189.90 points or 0.82 per cent at 23,381.87.

The index dropped by 362 points yesterday as participants locked in gains in blue-chips amid contraction in exports. The broader NSE Nifty recaptured the 7,100-mark and finally settled at 7,108.45 up 60.20 points or 0.85 per cent. The recovery was supported by gains in Adani Ports, up 5.84 per cent, while Dr Reddy's surged 3.52 per cent and Sun Pharma climbed 3.29 per cent.

Other gainers included Tata Motors, Tata Steel, RIL, BHEL, SBI, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Unilever, GAIL and Hero MotoCorp. On the other hand, ICICI Bank was the biggest loser, tumbling 3.10 per cent, followed by Coal India 1.71 per cent.

Overall 21 ended higher out of the 30-share Sensex pack. Sectorwise, the BSE healthcare index rose 1.57 per cent, followed by oil&gas 1.40 per cent, auto (1.03 per cent), capital goods (0.97 per cent), IT (0.88 per cent), FMCG (0.83 per cent), power (0.69 per cent) and realty (0.57 per cent).

In broader markets, the BSE mid-cap gained 0.47 per cent and small-cap ended 0.21 per cent higher. Elsewhere, key indices in Asia, like Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore were down, while Shanghai Composite Index ended 1.08 per cent higher. European markets were in a better shape in their early deals largely on better-than-estimated earnings and crude oil rising.