Sensex Rebounds 358 pts: HDFC Bank, Reliance Lead Gains

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty recovered by more than half cent on Thursday following buying in index majors HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 358.79 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 70,865.10. The barometer opened lower and fell further by 585.92 points or 0.83 per cent to 69,920.39. But, markets found the winning momentum in the afternoon session and climbed 452.4 points or 0.64 per cent to 70,958.71.

The Nifty rallied 104.90 points or 0.50 per cent to 21,255.05. During the day, it hit a high of 21,288.35 and a low of 20,976.80.

Both key indices had hit record high levels in intra-day trade on Wednesday before closing sharply down by over 1 per cent.

Among the Sensex firms, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, State Bank of India, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, HCL Tech and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the major laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo settled lower while Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green.

European markets were trading in the negative territory. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.33 per cent to USD 79.96 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,322.08 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark crashed 930.88 points or 1.30 per cent to settle at 70,506.31 on Wednesday. The Nifty fell by 302.95 points or 1.41 per cent to 21,150.15.