Sensex, Nifty rebound amid easing inflation, buying in bank, energy stocks

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty bounced back on Tuesday after four days of sharp decline on easing retail inflation and a rebound in global markets.

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

Persistent selling foreign investors and rising global crude prices put pressure on indices and restricted gains, traders said. 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.

Retail inflation declined to a four-month low of 5.22 per cent in December, mainly on account of easing of prices in the food basket, including vegetables -- according to government data released on Monday -- giving headroom to the Reserve Bank to reduce the key interest rate in upcoming monetary policy reviews.

"A rebound in the global market and an ease in domestic CPI inflation provided respite to the broader indices. This may provide some leeway for RBI in its next policy meeting; however, rising oil prices and higher 10-year yields will be watched carefully. "The IT sector weighed down amid concerns over weak earnings guidance for Q4. The domestic sentiment will be more inclined towards the ongoing earnings season and upcoming union budget, which has a mixed view," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.

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.

All Adani group stocks were in heavy demand, with Adani Power surging nearly 20 per cent. 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.

Wholesale price inflation rose to 2.37 per cent in December 2024, due to spike in prices of non-food articles, manufactured items as well as fuel and power, even though food items saw marginal easing, government data released on Tuesday showed.

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.