A day after the massive fall, when benchmark indices declined by over 1.5%, equity markets recovered some of the losses on Wednesday.
Sensex and Nifty snapped a two-day declining trend on Wednesday and rose by over 0.7%. The 30-share BSE Sensex, which broke the 76,000 level on Tuesday before closing at 76,024, rose by 593 points to 76,617 on Wednesday. Nifty rose by 167 points to close the day at 23,332. The markets rose in the hope that Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff would not have as adverse an impact on India as was feared earlier. The reciprocal tariff comes into effect from Wednesday.
Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments, said: “Despite mixed global cues surrounding impending US tariffs, the domestic market experienced steady gains. This optimism was largely driven by expectations that the tariffs would have a minimal impact on the domestic economy, given the positive progress in India-US trade negotiations.”
As per him, sentiments were further reinforced by India’s manufacturing PMI for March, which reached an eight-month high, hinting at a recovery in Q4FY25 corporate earnings.
The purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 58.1, up from 56.3 in February. In February, the manufacturing PMI had dropped to a 14-month low due to weaker growth in output and sales, along with a slowdown in input purchasing.
In Nifty, 35 out of the 50 stocks ended in green. Among Nifty stocks, Tata Consumer saw the biggest jump with a 7% rise followed by Zomato (4.8%), Titan (3.86%) and IndusInd Bank (3%). Among the losers, BEL fell by the maximum (3.27%) and Nestle India (1.22%).
The broader market outperformed Nifty, as the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose by 1.61% and 1.12%, respectively. As per Hrishikesh Yedve, assistant vice-president, technical and derivatives research at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates, if Nifty sustains above 23,400, the rally could extend towards 23,600-23,800 levels, otherwise it may continue consolidating within 23,000-23,400 range.