SENSEX recovers over 500 points from day's low, NIFTY50 above 24,900 led by Reliance, M&M

The Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery after staging a gap down opening on Wednesday, June 18. The SENSEX recovered over 550 points from the day's lowest level and NIFTY50 index reclaimed its important psychological level of 24,900 after briefly dropping below 24,800.

Recovery in the benchmarks came on the back of buying interest in index heavyweights like Reliance, Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Consultancy Services. However, the upside was capped owing to weakness in banking bellwethers like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

As of 9:57 am, the SENSEX was up 142 points at 81,723 and NIFTY50 index advanced 54 points to 24,907.

Global markets

Global markets were largely trading on a subdued note after conflict between Iran and Israel escalated further on Wednesday, with both countries launching fresh missile attacks amid intensifying hostilities now entering their sixth day. Despite mounting international concerns, the latest exchange unfolded just hours after former US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Iran, demanding its "unconditional surrender."

Most of the Asian markets were trading on a weak note as oil climbed to five-month high after concerns rose that an escalation of tensions between Iran and Israel would trigger a more direct US involvement.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.51%, China's Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.1%.

Sectoral landscape

Buying was across board as all the major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher led by NIFTY Auto index's over 1% gain. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, FMCG, Pharma, Realty, Consumer Durables, Oil & Gas and Private Bank indices also rose between 0.3%-1%.

Broader markets were also witnessing buying interest as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.17% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index gained 0.34%.

Stocks in action

Shares of Hindustan Zinc (HZL) tumbled as much as 6.9% to ₹452.50 apiece on the NSE in the opening deals on Wednesday, June 18.

The stock came under selling pressure after news reports said that the company witnessed a block deal in the morning session, wherein 7.2 crore shares, or 1.71% equity, worth ₹3,323 crore changed hands at ₹460.5 per share.

Earlier news reports said Vedanta Ltd, the promoter entity of Hindustan Zinc (HZL), will sell around a 1.6% stake in the company.

Shares of stock exchange BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) were trading in the negative territory on Wednesday, June 18, after the capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), assigned Thursday as its expiry day for equity derivatives contracts. The NSE has received a nod to shift its expiry day to Tuesday.

This development marks a reversal of the current schedule, where BSE holds F&O expiries on Tuesdays and NSE on Thursdays.

Vishal Mega Mart shares rose as much as 5% to hit an intraday high of ₹133.20 after the company witnessed a mega block deal on Tuesday, June 17.

The block deal data on the NSE that was updated in the evening showed that Samayat Services LLP, one of the promoter entities of supermarket chain Vishal Mega Mart, divested a 19.6% stake in the company for ₹10,220.40 crore through open market transactions.

Samayat Services LLP is a special-purpose vehicle owned by private equity firm Kedaara Capital and Switzerland-based Partners Group.

According to the bulk deal data on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), Samayat Services LLP offloaded a total of 90 crore shares in two tranches, representing a 19.58% stake in Gurugram-based Vishal Mega Mart.

Bharat Forge shares gained after the company informed exchanges that it has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with French company Turgis Gaillard to offer AAROK UAV in India.

NIFTY50 gainers and losers

IndusInd Bank was top gainer in the NIFTY50 basket of shares, the stock rose over 5% to ₹851 after global investment bank Nomura upgraded the stock saying that the legacy issues have been addressed and it expects its RoA to improve to 1% by FY2027.

Mahindra & Mahindra rose over 2% after competition watchdog Competition Commission of India on Tuesday cleared Mahindra & Mahindra's proposed acquisition of a nearly 59% stake in commercial vehicle maker SML Isuzu for ₹555 crore.

Maruti Suzuki, Eicher Motors, Bajaj Auto, Trent and Hero MotoCorp also rose between 1.13%-1.95%.

On the flipside, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power grid, Adani Ports, NTPC, HDFC Life and JSW Steel were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 2,065 shares were advancing while 11,024 were declining on the BSE.