Equity markets climb in early trade after three days of decline

Market benchmark indices bounced back in early trade on April 20 after falling in the past three days, amid buying in recently hit banking and IT counters.

Market benchmark indices bounced back in early trade on April 20 after falling in the past three days, amid buying in recently hit banking and IT counters.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 210.49 points to 59,778.29 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 56.35 points to 17,675.80.

Among the Sensex firms, Titan, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid, Tata Motors, Asian Paints, ITC, IndusInd Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, Wipro and NTPC were the biggest winners.

Nestle and Reliance Industries were the only laggards.

In Asian markets, Japan and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory, while Seoul and Shanghai quoted lower.

The U.S. markets had ended mostly lower on April 19.

“Intra-day, local benchmarks may witness sideways movement as concerns over more rate hikes in key European economies and the U.S. could dampen sentiment and trigger further rounds of corrections,” said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Falling for a third day, the BSE Sensex declined 159.21 points or 0.27% to settle at 59,567.80 on April 19. The Nifty dipped 41.40 points or 0.23% to end at 17,618.75.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1% to $82.29 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth ₹13.17 crore on April 19, according to exchange data.