SENSEX recovers 740 points from day's low, NIFTY50 reclaims 25,600 led by banking, metal stocks

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery in late morning deals on Friday, February 20.

The SENSEX recovered as much as 740 points from the day's lowest level and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 25,606 after hitting a low of 25,380 led by gains in index heavyweights like ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bharat Electronics.

As of 11:01 am, the SENSEX was up 364 points at 82,862 and NIFTY50 index climbed 115 points to 25,569.

Asian markets were trading lower as caution prevailed among investors after reports suggested that United States issued new threats against Iran, despite the conclusion of Iran-US nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Iran saying that it reached an understanding with the US on the main “guiding principles” to resolve their disputes.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1.26%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.7% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 0.12%.

US stocks ended lower while oil prices rose on Thursday. S&P 500 declined 0.3%, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54% and tech heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.31%.

Oil prices rose by around 2% on Thursday, reaching their highest levels in six months, as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran heightened concerns over potential supply disruptions in the oil-rich Middle East.

Back home, buying was visible across board as 12 of fifteen major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Metal index's over 1% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, PSU Bank, Private Bank and Auto indices also rose between 0.3%-0.9%.

On the flipside, select IT, realty and pharma stocks were facing selling pressure.

Broader markets were witnessing buying interest but underperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index rose 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.13%.

Among the individual shares, ABB rose 5% after the company said that it recorded highest fourth-quarter orders in the last five years, with total orders at ₹4,096 crore and for CY25 at ₹14,115 crore. During the December quarter, orders rose 52% due to a strong development in the base business with additional support from the timing of large orders.

Bharat Electronics was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 2% to ₹444. Hindalco, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Nestle India, SBI Life, ONGC, Larsen & Toubro and Power Grid also rose between 1%-2%.

On the flipside, Eternal, Kwality Wall's, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Grasim, Mahindra & Mahindra and Wipro were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth turned neutral as 1,443 shares were advancing while 1,442 were declining on the NSE.