Sensex ends 1,325 points up as indices stage sharpest 1-day recovery
Indian equity markets ended an eventful and highly volatile session with significant gains on Friday after posting a record intra-day recovery as investors put aside worries over coronavirus spread and indulged in some bargain buying. The Nifty50 index was locked in 10 per cent lower circuit early morning, prompting a halt in trading for 45 minutes. However, once the markets re-opened, the headline indices Sensex and Nifty shot up as much as 5,381 points and 1,604 points, respectively, from their early morning lows. Volitality index surged over 24 per cent during the session.
Sensex closed 1,325 pts, or 4.04 per cent, higher at 34,103 and the Nifty50 index a tad above 10,000 level at 10,023.65, up 433 points, or 4.54 per cent. The rebound was led by banks with index heavyweights HDFC ending 10 per cent lower while State Bank of India zoomed 14 per cent. Reliance Industries was also up over 5 per cent. In the end, 27 out of the 30 Sensex constituents ended the session in green.
The broader markets also joined the benchmarks in the upmove. The S&P BSE MidCap index closed 258 points, or 2.09 per cent, higher and the S&P BSE SmallCap index gained 146 points, or 1.26 per cent.
On a weekly basis, however, the Sensex posted worst week in over a decade — down 11.35 per cent while the Nifty50 slipped 11.6 per cent for the week.