Equity benchmark indices bounced back in early trade on Friday, halting a three-day decline as robust trends in Asian markets and sustained foreign institutional inflows buoyed investor sentiment.
After a tepid start, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 289.43 points to reach 81,651.30 in morning trade. Meanwhile, the broader 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 88.25 points, touching 24,881.50.
Among the Sensex constituents, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv and Maruti Suzuki emerged as top performers. However, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, Tech Mahindra and Kotak Mahindra Bank faced selling pressure and were among the laggards.
The rebound in domestic equities mirrored upbeat trends in Asian markets, where South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225, China's SSE Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng all posted gains.
US markets remained closed on Thursday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday.
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Oil prices, meanwhile, continued to trend lower. Brent crude, the global benchmark, slipped 2.45 per cent to trade at USD 76.92 a barrel, offering a slight relief to markets facing inflationary concerns.
Commenting on the market outlook, VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted: “Nifty, which has been trading within the 24,500-25,000 range for about a month now, is likely to remain within this range in the near-term. The upper side of the range will be broken only on news of de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict or an abrupt end to the war. The lower side of the range is unlikely to break since big buying, particularly by domestic institutions, will emerge on dips. If the war lingers and crude rises beyond $85, the lower band of the range will be broken.”
Data from the exchanges showed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth ₹934.62 crore on Thursday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also remained net buyers to the tune of ₹605.97 crore.
On Thursday, the Sensex had closed 82.79 points lower at 81,361.87, while the Nifty ended down by 18.80 points at 24,793.25.
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