Indian benchmark indices staged a strong recovery on Wednesday, with the Nifty 50 rebounding 57.75 points to 23,878.85 and the BSE Sensex climbing 187.63 points to 76,388.31. This marked a significant turnaround from earlier weakness, as reported by The Hindu. The recovery came despite mixed global cues, with Indian markets showing resilience after opening marginally lower on Wednesday. GIFT Nifty futures had stood at 23,861.50 earlier, indicating a subdued start after the Nifty closed at 23,824.10 on Tuesday.
Twelve of the 16 major sectoral indices opened in the red, while broader mid-cap and small-cap indices were largely flat. As reported by The Indian Express, Indian blue-chip stocks had declined about 1.2% in the previous session, weighed down by IT and metal shares after a strong seven-session rally through Monday. Global markets offered mixed signals, with Wall Street ending lower overnight amid a broad selloff in technology and semiconductor stocks, while Asian markets recovered 0.4% after tumbling nearly 3.8% in the previous session.
The rupee declined 10 paise to 94.86 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Wednesday, as reported by Business Standard. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 94.88 before rising marginally to 94.86, down from its previous close of 94.76 on Tuesday. According to Choice Broking's Kaveri More, the rupee opened weaker against the dollar, extending its third straight session of pressure as the greenback stayed broadly firm. However, sharp decline in global crude oil prices and FII inflows supported the local unit to prevent a sharper decline. The dollar index was trading at 101.48, up 0.08%, while Brent crude futures fell 1.02% to $76.29 per barrel. More noted that importer demand and dollar buying continue to outweigh selective exporter supply.
Foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth ₹17.86 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data reported by The Hindu. This compares to the ₹178.6 million worth of FII purchases on Tuesday as reported by The Indian Express. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) had bought shares worth ₹6.8 billion in the previous session. Market participants said lower crude prices, measures to stabilise the rupee and efforts to attract foreign inflows have helped moderate overseas selling in recent weeks. Traders also pointed to a revival in monsoon activity and expectations of improved corporate earnings as factors that could support a return of foreign investors.
