Indian stock markets staged a strong recovery, erasing morning losses as the Sensex rebounded nearly 790 points from intraday lows and Nifty 50 jumped over 260 points to close in positive territory. According to CNBC TV18, the recovery came as oil prices dropped below $110 per barrel and bond yields eased from record highs, with investor sentiment improving broadly across market segments. The sharp reversal was supported by a decline in India VIX to 18.31, down around 2% in the afternoon session, indicating reduced market volatility. Sensex closed up 118 points at 75,318 and Nifty 50 ended 41 points higher at 23,659, holding above the 23,650 mark at close.
Reliance Industries emerged as the top index mover, with shares jumping over 2.7% during Wednesday afternoon trading. As reported by CNBC TV18, Reliance Industries was followed by several other major gainers including Hindalco, Axis Bank, and Mahindra & Mahindra, which were the top contributors to Nifty's gains. These companies recorded gains of up to 4%, indicating strong investor interest in selective large-cap stocks despite broader market uncertainty. The recovery was broad-based with Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining around 0.6% and Nifty Midcap 100 up 301 points to 61,323, while Nifty Bank advanced 153 points to 53,562.
The afternoon session recovery suggests selective buying interest in specific sectors and stocks, with large-cap stocks leading the gains. According to CNBC TV18, the Sensex closed up 118 points at 75,318 and Nifty 50 was up 41 points at 23,659, indicating that the market found strong support after initial weakness. The recovery pattern suggests investors are focusing on specific opportunities rather than broad-based buying across all sectors, with market breadth remaining neutral as the NSE advance-decline ratio stood at 1:1. From the Sensex basket, Hindalco Industries, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Auto, Wipro, Grasim Industries, and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers, while Bharat Electronics, Eternal, Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, and ITC were the biggest laggards.
Energy stocks emerged as major gainers during the session, with oil marketing companies ending at the day's high following strong commentary from HPCL. However, Nifty Media was the worst-hit sectoral index, declining over 1% and weighed down by Zee Entertainment Enterprises, which fell nearly 6% after reporting a net loss of ₹104 crore. The mixed sectoral performance reflects selective investor interest across different industry segments, with Nifty Oil & Gas gaining around 1.7% to lead overall gains as oil prices cooled below $110 per barrel. Among individual stocks, IRB Infrastructure Developers emerged as the top Nifty gainer, rising more than 3% after Novelis reported strong fourth-quarter results, while Avalon Technologies surged over 7% after appointing Ganapathi S Lakshminarayanan as Managing Director and CEO.
PI Industries emerged as a standout performer, climbing nearly 6% from the lows after reporting fourth-quarter results with margins rising 980 basis points year-on-year. PI Industries gained nearly 8% after Nomura initiated coverage on the stock with a 'Buy' rating. Zydus Life continued its strong performance with over 6% gains, supported by positive quarterly results showing consolidated net profit of ₹12.73 billion, up nearly 9% year-on-year and revenue rising over 16% to ₹75.87 billion. However, PI Industries was the top midcap loser, falling over 7% following weak fourth-quarter results. The rupee touched a record intraday low of 96.96 against the US dollar during the session, adding to market volatility concerns.
