Top gainers, losers on October 18: Axis Bank, Wipro rise over 3%; Infosys tumbles 4.2%

Recovering from early lows, benchmark indices SENSEX and NIFTY closed higher in a volatile session on Friday, October 18, driven by gains in banking, metal and select IT shares.

Ending its three-day slide, NIFTY50 settled 104.2 points, or 0.42%, higher at 24,854. As many as 33 of its constituents ended higher, and 17 closed lower.

The key index opened lower and fell further to hit an intraday low of 24,567 in morning trade. However, buying in metal, banking, IT and power shares helped to recover losses and hit a high of 24,886.

The 30-share BSE SENSEX rebounded 218.14 points, or 0.27%, to close at 81,224. As many as 19 SENSEX stocks gained, and 11 declined. The index moved between a high of 81,391 and a low of 80,409 during the day.

Investors' value-buying in banking metal and realty shares after three straight days of decline helped stock markets reverse their falling trend amid positive global cues. However, FII outflows, geopolitical uncertainties, and sluggishness in the Chinese economy led to a cautious approach by investors.

Among sectoral indices, NIFTY Bank, Metal and Media were major gainers. NIFTY IT and FMCG closed lower.

Axis Bank, Wipro major gainers after Q2 results

Infosys, Asian Paints lead losers

Among other NIFTY constituents, Bajaj Auto, ITC, HCL Tech and Hindustan Unilever also closed in the red.