Mumbai, April 2: Staging a spirited recovery, stock markets pared early losses to close higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Sensex rising by 185 points and the broader Nifty settling above 22,700 on strong value buying in IT and banking shares and a sharp rebound in the rupee.
Rebounding more than 2,000 points from the day’s low, the 30-share BSE Sensex finally settled higher by 185.23 points, or 0.25 per cent, at 73,319.55. The index opened lower and tanked further by 1,588 points to hit a day’s low of 71,545.81 in the first half of the session. Strong value buying in IT bellwethers like HCL Tech and TCS, and banking giants HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, helped the barometer recover from sharp losses, hitting a high of 73,568.54 in the pre-close session.
The 50-share NSE Nifty followed a similar trajectory and closed above 22,700 at 22,713.10, up by 33.70 points, or 0.15 per cent. The index fell 496.85 points, or 2.19 per cent, in early trade before recovering to hit a high of 22,782.30.
A sharp rebound in the rupee after the Reserve Bank stepped in with a slew of measures to restrict banks from onshore forward markets also helped improve investor sentiment. The rupee rebounded by 188 paise to hit the 92 level against the US dollar briefly in the day trade before settling over 150 paise higher.
Bargain hunting in IT stocks supported the recovery, with HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra ending nearly 3 per cent higher.
Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki India, Titan, Axis Bank, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ITC were the major gainers among Sensex shares.
On the other hand, Asian Paints, Eternal, Sun Pharmaceuticals, NTPC, Reliance Industries, PowerGrid, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Tata Steel were the only laggards.
A total of 2,649 stocks advanced, while 1,589 declined and 149 remain unchanged on the BSE.
BSE SmallCap Select Index slipped 0.36 per cent, while MidCap Select Index went lower by 0.10 per cent.
Among the sectoral indices, Focussed IT gained the most by 2.76 per cent, followed by IT (2.42 per cent), Realty (1.19 per cent), Top 10 Banks (0.46 per cent), Private Banks Index (0.40 per cent), Metal and Bankex by 0.35 per cent each, FMCG (0.27 per cent), and Financial Services (0.24 per cent).
On the currency front, the Indian rupee posted its strongest gain in over 12 years, opening 1.3 per cent higher against the dollar, supported by RBI measures aimed at curbing volatility. These included restrictions on rupee non-deliverable forwards and re-booking of forex derivative contracts, which triggered an unwinding of speculative dollar positions.
On the institutional front, FIIs have remained aggressive sellers, offloading Rs 1.22 lakh crore in March 2026 since the onset of the conflict in West Asia, marking one of the highest monthly outflows in recent history. This surpasses the previous peak seen in October 2024, when FIIs sold Rs 1.14 lakh crore worth of equities.
In a holiday-shortened week, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 263.67 points, or 0.35 per cent, while the broader NSE Nifty dipped 106.5 points, or 0.47 per cent. (PTI)
