Sensex, Nifty recover early losses as IT stocks advance

• Sensex and Nifty reversed early losses on Wednesday, supported by gains in IT shares and HDFC Bank

• Asian markets traded higher despite an overnight decline on Wall Street

• Brent crude rose to $106.40 a barrel, while foreign institutional investors sold Rs 1,305.13 crore worth of equities on Tuesday

Indian equity benchmarks recovered from an early dip on Wednesday as buying in information technology stocks and HDFC Bank helped extend the previous session’s rebound.

The BSE Sensex initially slipped 32.96 points to 73,000.82, while the NSE Nifty fell 32.65 points to 22,688.75.

Both indices subsequently moved into positive territory. The Sensex was trading 161.48 points higher at 73,195.26, while the Nifty gained 36 points to 22,757.95.

Tata Consultancy Services, HCLTech, Infosys and Tech Mahindra were among the leading gainers in the Sensex basket. HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, UltraTech Cement and Maruti Suzuki also advanced.

Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid and Eternal were among the stocks trading lower.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225, Shanghai’s SSE Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng traded higher. US markets had closed lower on Tuesday.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.62 per cent to $106.40 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs1,305.13 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The recovery followed a strong session on Tuesday, when the Sensex surged 1,109.10 points, or 1.54 per cent, to close at 73,033.78, near its intraday high. It was the index’s strongest single-day gain in four months.

The Nifty rose 358.60 points, or 1.60 per cent, to settle at 22,721.95, recording its biggest one-day rebound in more than two months.

With PTI inputs