NIFTY50 and SENSEX stage strong recovery; Reliance, Tata Motors and ONGC among top index movers

Indian equity benchmarks staged a strong recovery during the mid-market session as strong buying in index heavyweights like Reliance, Tata Motors and ONGC pulled the markets higher. During the opening session, markets were dragged down by key banking and IT stocks ahead of earnings season starting next week. The SENSEX touched an intraday low of 79,274, down nearly 700 points from the day's high, and the NIFTY slid nearly 200 points

The sharp fall in the market's opening session was largely attributed to profit booking in index heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys, TCS, and more, which saw a huge runup on Thursday. Market participants also turned cautious ahead of key events, including Q3 earning season, Budget, and global factors.

The SENSEX traded at 79422.27, down 330 points or 0.43%, after falling to an intraday low of 79274.88. The index had 14 stocks advancing and 16 stocks declining.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.10%, while the Small cap index was up by 0.51%.

The NIFTY50 traded at 24047.00, down by 69 points or 0.43% after trading between 24032.15 and 24196.45. The index had 18 advancing stocks and 32 declining stocks.

Asian markets are trading mostly higher; Taiwan Weighted added 124.85 points or 0.55% to 22,956.91, Hang Seng advanced 170.71 points or 0.86% to 19,794.03, KOSPI increased 41.96 points or 1.75% to 2,440.90 and Jakarta Composite gained 4.07 points or 0.06% to 7,167.28.

On the flip side, the Shanghai Composite weakened 15.02 points or 0.46% to 3,247.54 and the Straits Times fell 4.66 points or 0.12% to 3,796.15.