Markets bounce back after 2-days of fall; Sensex jumps nearly 350 points

Equity benchmark indices bounced back on Wednesday after two days of decline, with the Sensex jumping nearly 350 points in early trade, amid a largely positive Asian markets and supported by buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and Infosys.

The Sensex was trading 349.66 points higher at 58,926.03. The Nifty gained 109.85 points to 17,640.15. From the 30-share pack, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Reliance Industries, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Wipro, ITC and Infosys were among the prominent gainers.

In contrast, Dr Reddy’s, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank and Titan were the laggards. In the previous trade, the Sensex declined 388.20 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 58,576.37. The Nifty went lower by 144.65 points or 0.82 per cent to finish at 17,530.30.

Meanwhile, retail inflation soared to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March, and remained above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance level, while factory output grew just 1.7 per cent in February, according to official data released on Tuesday.

In Asia, markets were trading mostly higher, with Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo quoting in the green, while Shanghai was marginally lower in mid-session deals.

Stocks in the US ended marginally lower on Tuesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude gained marginally by 0.05 per cent to USD 104.69 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors continued to offload shares worth Rs 3,128.39 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.