Sensex rebounds over 300 pts; RIL rallies 5 pc

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 300 points in opening session on Wednesday led by gains in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC amid mixed cues from global markets.

After surging 308 points in highly volatile trade, the 30-share index was up 72.14 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 35,707.09, and the NSE Nifty rose 22.20 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 10,473.65.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank and PowerGrid.

On the other hand, ITC, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, Infosys and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards.

In the previous session on Monday, the BSE Sensex crashed over 1,941 points and the NSE Nifty tumbled 538 points, positing their biggest ever single-day drop in absolute terms.

On a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FPIs) sold equities worth Rs 6,595.56 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 4,974.80 crore on Monday, data available with stock exchanges showed.

Market remained closed on Tuesday on account of Holi.

According to traders, domestic market rebounded from Monday's lows, but turned increasingly volatile as no respite from the rapid spread of coronavirus seems in sight.

Global stocks too gave mixed signals with bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong trading on a positive note, while those in Seoul and Tokyo dropping over 1 per cent.

Stock exchanges in the US ended sharply higher on Tuesday on hopes of US economic stimulus efforts as the coronavirus continued to spread rapidly.

The rupee appreciated 23 paise to 73.93 against the US dollar in morning session.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 3.41 per cent to USD 38.49 per barrel.