SENSEX recovers 1,700 points, NIFTY50 reclaims 22,600; rupee rebounds over 200 paise from record low

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery in afternoon deals on Thursday, April 2, as sentiment turned positive after Indian rupee staged a strong rebound from record low levels. The SENSEX surged as much as 1,707 points from intraday low of 71,546 to hit an intraday high of 73,131 and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 22,673 after hitting a low of 22,182.55 in opening deals.

As of 2:23 pm, the SENSEX was down 86 points at 73,046 and NIFTY50 index slipped 38 points to 22,641.

Earlier in the session, SENSEX and NIFTY50 indices staged a gap down opening after US President Donald Trump hinted at prolonging the war in Iran. Trump said the military could end its Iran offensive in two to three weeks. Trump on Thursday morning said that United States will carry out aggressive strikes on Iran over the next two to three weeks and is nearing completion of its main strategic objectives in the war.

Addressing a war-weary US public, Trump said his military had delivered "swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield," during 32 days ‌of military strikes and that Iran was no longer a security threat.

Back home, rupee staged a strong recovery against the US dollar as the domestic unit surged by more than 200 paise to hit 92.89 against the dollar backed by Reserve Bank's move to restrict banks' net open position in the onshore forward delivery market.

The local currency breached the 95 level on Monday before closing at 94.70 versus the greenback. It had settled at a historic low of 94.84 against dollar on Friday, prompting the RBI to intervene.

Recovery in equity market was driven by buying interest in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, ITC and Bajaj Finance.

11 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower but most of the indices came off from intraday low levels. NIFTY IT index was top sectoral gainer, the index jumped nearly 3%.

FMCG, metal, and realty shares were also witnessing buying interest.

Mid- and small-cap shares also came off day's lows as NIFTY Midcap 100 index was down 0.6% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.75%.

HCL Technologies was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 4% to ₹1,408. Tech Mahindra, TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Hindalco, Nestle India, Bharat Electronics and Maruti Suzuki also rose between 1% and 3%.

On the flip side, Asian Paints, Eternal, Power Grid, Eicher Motors, NTPC, Jio Financial Services and Power Grid were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,853 shares were advancing while 1,298 were declining on the NSE.