Markets bounce back in early trade after many days of fall

Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices rebounded in early trade on Friday after facing massive drubbing of late amid recovery in Asian markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 411.17 points to 63,559.32 in early trade. The Nifty climbed 115.9 points to 18,973.15. Among the Sensex firms, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India, Infosys and Maruti were the major gainers.

Asian Paints emerged as the only laggard from the pack. In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory. The US markets ended lower on Thursday.

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday for the first time in over a year. "After six continuous days of losses triggered by the elevated bond yields in the US and tensions in West Asia, the market appears to be oversold," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. He added that the US economy's resilience is surprising.

"The Q3 GDP growth at 4.9 per cent means the Fed will continue to be hawkish and the likely 'higher for longer' interest rate regime is negative from the stock market perspective," Vijayakumar added. On the positive side, valuations in India, which were high, have now turned fair, and in sectors like banking valuations are attractive, he said. Global oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.25 per cent to USD 89.03 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 7,702.53 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data. The BSE benchmark slumped 900.91 points or 1.41 per cent to settle below the 64,000 mark at 63,148.15 on Thursday. The Nifty dived 264.90 points or 1.39 per cent to 18,857.25.

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