Markets rebound as Sensex rises 574 pts, RIL leads charge

Mumbai: Benchmark indices bounced back on Wednesday after falling for five straight sessions, with investors snapping up the recently-mauled IT, finance and consumption stocks amid a supportive trend overseas.

A rebounding rupee further bolstered sentiment, traders said.

Halting its five-session slide, the BSE Sensex jumped 574.35 points or 1.02 per cent to finish at 57,037.50.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 177.90 points or 1.05 per cent to 17,136.55.

The market breadth was in favour of the bulls, with 20 of the 30 Sensex stocks closing in the green.

UltraTech Cement topped the Sensex gainers' chart with a jump of 3.52 per cent, followed by Asian Paints, Maruti, Reliance Industries, TCS, Bharti Airtel, HUL and HDFC.

In value terms, index heavyweight Reliance Industries accounted for almost half of the benchmark's gains.

In contrast, Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, ITC and L&T were among the prominent laggards, dropping as much as 3.35 per cent.

The BSE midcap index gained 0.45 per cent, while the smallcap gauge jumped 0.36 per cent.

As many as 1,738 stocks advanced, while 1,662 declined and 110 remained unchanged.

Among BSE sectoral indices, auto gained the most by 2.21 per cent, followed by energy (2.19 per cent), oil and gas (1.85 per cent) and telecom (1.40 per cent), while metal (0.41 per cent), utilities (0.18 per cent) and bank (0.17 per cent) were among the losers.

Stocks in the US had ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude gained 0.89 per cent to $108.2 per barrel.

The rupee appreciated by 20 paise to settle at 76.30 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree, offloading shares worth a net Rs 5,871.69 crore on Tuesday, according to stock exchange data.