Sensex rebounds 198 points; Nifty tops 17,500

Equity benchmark Sensex ended 198 points higher on Tuesday, tracking gains mainly in power, telecom and pharma stocks.

After plunging over 700 points in early trade, the 30-share index pared all losses to settle 198.44 points or 0.34% higher at 58,664.33.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 86.80 points or 0.50% to 17,503.35.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 4%, followed by NTPC, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Infosys, Bajaj Auto and Maruti fell up to 2.59%.

“Domestic equity market clawed its way out of the recent downslide boosted by metal, PSU bank and pharma stocks with mid and small caps outperforming the benchmark indices,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

“US markets witnessed a late sell-off yesterday despite the re-nomination of Jerome Powell as the Fed chair. Oil and gas indices remained under pressure amid reports of the U.S. releasing its emergency oil reserves to keep the rising crude oil prices under control,” he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended with losses, while Shanghai and Tokyo were positive.

Stock exchanges in Europe were in the red in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.02% to $78.89 per barrel.