Markets rebound in early trade after five days of decline

Mumbai, May 31 (PTI) Equity benchmark indices rebounded in early trade on Friday, after falling for the past five days, amid a rally in Asian markets along with buying in index majors Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 550.22 points to 74,435.82 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 147.15 points to 22,635.80.

In the five days of fall, the BSE benchmark tanked 1,532 points or 2 per cent.

From the Sensex basket, Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Tata Motors and Titan were the major gainers.

Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies were among the laggards.

“The market is tantalisingly poised with the possibility of a sharp move based on the exit poll results tomorrow evening,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, adding, “largecaps in financials, autos, capital goods and telecom have the potential to lead the rally.”

Vijayakumar further said that the latest macroeconomic data from the US showed the world’s largest economy grew at slower than expected pace during January-March 2024.

“This means the Fed may not delay rate cuts much longer. If this happens and the US bond yields start declining that can reverse the FII outflows,” he added.

The electioneering for of the ongoing general elections halted on Thursday ahead of the last phase of polling to be held on Friday. The results will be declared on June 4.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory.

Wall Street ended lower on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude went lower 0.34 per cent to USD 81.58 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,050.15 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Falling for the fifth day in a row, benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled nearly 1 per cent each on Thursday due to heavy sell-off in metal, consumer durables and select IT shares amid the monthly expiry of derivatives contracts.

The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged by 617.30 points or 0.83 per cent to settle at 73,885.60 on Thursday. The index had been on a downtrend since May 23 when it closed at its lifetime high level. The NSE Nifty closed the Thursday’s session 216.05 points or 0.95 per cent lower at 22,488.65.