Sensex, Nifty rebound amid easing inflation and positive global cues

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back on Tuesday after declining for the past four sessions on easing retail inflation and a rebound in global markets.

Besides, bargain hunting in energy, banking and metal stocks supported the market sentiment.

However, rising global crude prices and unrelenting selling by foreign investors capped the gains, traders said.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rose 169.62 points or 0.22 per cent to settle at 76,499.63. During the day, it surged 505.6 points or 0.66 per cent to 76,835.61.

As many as 2,867 stocks advanced while 1,096 declined and 110 remained unchanged on the BSE.

The NSE Nifty climbed 90.10 points or 0.39 per cent to 23,176.05.

The BSE Sensex has plunged 1,869.1 points or 2.39 per cent in the past four trading sessions.

From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Adani Ports jumped over 5 per cent. NTPC, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Zomato, Bajaj Finance, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank and Maruti were among the other big gainers.

From the 30-share pack, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and UltraTech Cement were the other laggards.

HCL Technologies slumped over 8 per cent after its December quarter earnings failed to cheer investors.

IT company HCL Tech on Monday reported a 5.54 per cent uptick in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,591 crore in the December quarter as the CEO expressed optimism for improvement in the demand environment and discretionary spending and raised the revenue growth guidance.

Brokers said overall sentiments turned better after retail inflation dipped to a 4-month low of 5.22 per cent in December, giving headroom to the Reserve Bank to cut the key interest rate in upcoming monetary policy.

The BSE midcap gauge soared 2.13 per cent and smallcap index jumped 1.69 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, utilities zoomed 5.21 per cent, power rallied 4.50 per cent, metal (3.51 per cent), telecommunication (2.54 per cent), commodities (2.34 per cent) and services (2.26 per cent).

On the other hand, IT, tech, BSE Focused IT and FMCG were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Tokyo was lower.

Markets in Europe were trading in the green. US markets ended on a mixed note on Monday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,892.84 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.12 per cent to $81.11 a barrel.

Falling for the fourth straight session on Monday, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 1,048.90 points or 1.36 per cent to settle at 76,330.01. The Nifty dropped 345.55 points or 1.47 per cent to close at 23,085.95.