SENSEX recovers 1,226 points from day's lowest level, NIFTY50 above 25,300 after hitting lowest level in over three months

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery in noon deals on Wednesday after falling to their lowest levels in over three months earlier in the session. The SENSEX recovered as much as 1,281 points from the day's lowest level and NIFTY50 index moved above 25,300 after falling to 24,920 earlier in the session amid heightened volatility.

Index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, InterGlobe Aviation and UltraTech Cement were leading the recovery in afternoon trading.

As of 1:05 pm, the SENSEX was up 159 points at 82,339 and NIFTY50 index advanced 60 points to 25,292 despite rupee falling to record low 91.57 against the US dollar.

India VIX advanced 6.75% to 13.59.

Analysts say that short covering along with value buying at lower levels in index heavyweight shares is leading to a recovery in the equity markets.

Most of the sectoral gauges continued to trade with a negative bias but trimmed their intraday losses. Metal, oil & gas shares were witnessing buying interest while NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, IT, Pharma and PSU Bank indices declined between 0.2%-0.5%.

Broader markets also came off intraday lows as NIFTY Midcap 100 index was down 0.54% compared with 2.4% decline earlier in the session. NIFTY Smallcap 100 index also came off intraday lows and was down 0.6%.

Among the individual shares, Kalyan Jewellers shares slumped as much as 14% reports suggested that some mutual funds have trimmed their stake in the December quarter (Q3 FY26).

Shares of Credit Access Grameen, the country's leading microfinance institution, staged their best single-day gain in nearly one year in an overall volatile market after it reported its December quarter earnings. Credit Access Grameen shares advanced as much as 10.86%, the best one day move since January 29, 2025, to hit an intraday high of ₹1,375 on the BSE.

Shoppers Stop tumbled as much as 12.38% to hit a low of ₹319.30 on the NSE. However, the scrip recovered a bit minutes later, and when last seen, shares were trading at ₹341.45, down 6.31%.

The retail chain on Tuesday reported a decline of 69.13% in its consolidated net profit at ₹16.12 crore in the December quarter of FY26, citing factors such as a shift in the festival period and uneven consumption trends.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

Eternal was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock jumped 6% to ₹285 ahead of its earnings announcement due later in the day.

IndiGo, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Hindalco and ONGC also rose between 1.2%-2.2%.

On the flipside, ICICI Bank, Trent, Tata Consumer Products, Apollo Hospitals, Eicher Motors and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The market breadth remained negative as 1,442 shares were advancing while 2,695 were declining on the BSE.