Markets halt 3-day decline; Sensex rallies over 500 points

Equity markets recovered on Thursday after falling for the past three days, with the Sensex jumping over 500 points, aided by buying in HDFC twins and ICICI Bank amid mostly positive trends in global equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 503.27 points or 0.94% to settle at 54,252.53. During the day, it zoomed 596.96 points or 1.11% to 54,346.22.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 144.35 points or 0.90% to end at 16,170.15.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Nestle, Wipro, TCS and Tech Mahindra were among the prominent gainers.

In contrast, Sun Pharma, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Larsen & Toubro and Dr Reddy’s were the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Shanghai settled in the green while, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended marginally lower.

Bourses in Europe were trading in the positive zone in the afternoon trade.

Stock markets in the U.S. had ended higher on Wednesday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.54% to $114.7 per barrel.

Continuing their selling spree, foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth a net ₹1,803.06 crore on Wednesday, as per stock exchange data.

“On monthly expiry day, the index finally managed to close in the green after three days of losing streak,” said Palak Kothari, Research Associate, Choice Broking.