Indian Indices Bounce Back Midweek; Bharat Petroleum Jumps 4%

Indian benchmarks bounced back on Wednesday, supported by buying in major companies Housing Development Finance Corp. (HHDFC, BOM:500010), Reliance Industries (RELIANCE, BOM:500325) and Infosys (INFY, BOM:500209).

Both BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty snapped their five-day losing run as Indian investors turned upbeat after Wall Street ended higher.

At the close, the Sensex climbed 574.35 points, or 1%, to 57,037.50, while the Nifty rose 177.80 points, or 1.1%, to 17,136.50.

Bharat Petroleum (BPCL, BOM:533106) topped Wednesday’s gainers, with shares jumping 4%, followed by Tata Motors (TATAMOTORS, BOM:500570) and Shree Cement (SHREECEM, BOM:500387).

Conversely, Bajaj Finance (BAJFINANCE, BOM:500034), ICICI Bank (ICICIBANK, BOM:532174) and Bajaj Finserv (BAJAJFINSV, BOM:532978) were the major laggards.

In economic news, the International Monetary Fund has slashed its growth forecast for India by 0.8 percentage points to 8.2% for the current financial year ending March 31, 2023. The global financial institution warned that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war would hurt consumption as well as growth due to higher prices.

Meanwhile, India’s daily COVID-19 cases continued its upward trajectory, logging 2,067 additional cases in the last 24 hours. New deaths were recorded at 40.