Nifty, Sensex rebound to settle higher; Garden Reach rises 18%, Hindustan Oil tanks 16%

For the day, the 30-share pack BSE Sensex added 137.50 points, or 0.21 per cent, to end the session at 65,539.42, while NSE's Nifty50 gained 30.45 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 19,465. Broader markets rose in tandem as BSE midcap and small-cap indices surged up to half a per cent. Fear gauge India VIX spiked over a per cent to settle at 12.13-levels.

While volatility continued to remain the ongoing theme, markets rebounded in late trades amid buying in IT, realty and power stocks, although metals came under hammering on worries slackening demand in China could hurt sentiment going ahead. Despite the recovery, markets are likely to witness choppy trends, said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities. "Technically, the bullish candle on daily charts and higher bottom formation on intraday charts are indicating further uptrend from the current levels. For the trend following traders, 19,400 would be the key level to watch out for and above the same, the market could move up till 19,550-19,575. On the flip side, a fresh sell off could be seen after the dismissal of 19,400," he said. On a sectoral front, The Nifty realty and media indices gained more than a per cent each. Nifty healthcare, pharma, IT and auto indices added about a per cent each for the day. Among the losers, the Nifty metal index dropped about a per cent, followed by weakness in the financial and banking counters. In the Nifty50 pack, Apollo Hospital Enterprises topped the gainers and surged about three per cent, while Ultratech Cement and NTPC gained more than 2 per cent each. Infosys, Tata Motors, Power Grid and Mahindra & Mahindra also posted similar gains, while Larsen & Toubro and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were also among the key gainers for the day. Among the losers, Tata Steel, Adani Ports and Hindalco plunged 2 per cent each. HDFC Life Insurance Company, Bharti Airtel and Hero Motocorp dropped more than a per cent each. Bajaj FInance, Tata Consumer Products, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance were also among the top laggards. "The initial apprehension stemming from an above-expected surge in domestic CPI inflation, driven by higher food prices, induced volatility in the Indian market. However, the market found some relief as the likelihood of this inflation surge being transitory alleviated concerns, leading to a recovery in the latter part of the trading session, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. "Moreover, as core inflation continued to moderate, the market did not anticipate a rate hike, although the possibility of an extended rate pause seemed more probable. Stronger-than-anticipated retail sales data in the US and concerns about further rating downgrades of US banks contributed to choppiness in Western markets, while Asian markets reacted to the rate cut initiated by the Chinese central bank," he said. A total of 3,757 shares were traded on BSE on Wednesday, of which 1,853 settled higher. 1,781 stocks ended the session with cuts while 123 shares remained unchanged. A total of 266 shares hit their upper circuit, whereas 254 shares tested the lower circuit levels for the day. In the broader markets, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India surged 19 per cent, while Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers gained more than 18 per cent. Cochin Shipyard rose 17 per cent and DB Realty jumped more than 16 per cent for the day. Mishra Dhatu Nigam ended 11 per cent up for the day. On the contrary, Hindustan Oil Exploration tumbled more than 16 per cent, while IFB Agro Industries plunged 8 per cent for the day. Kirloskar Brothers, Hindustan Copper and Uflex Industries dropped 7 per cent each for the day, while Heranba Industries crashed 6 per cent.