Sensex, Nifty Modestly Higher As Stocks Recover From Early Setback

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent fall to lower levels, the Indian market bounced back into positive territory Monday morning with select blue chip stocks recovering smartly and posting strong gains.

The early setback was due largely to the initial reaction to Hindenburg Research's allegations that the Indian market regulator SEBI's chairperson had stake in some obscure offshore entities used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.

Shares of Adani group companies fell sharply, hurting overall sentiment in early trades. But stocks, including those from the Adani Group, recovered swiftly and pared most of the early losses, with investors shifting their focus to earnings, and awaiting key inflation and industrial output data, due later in the day.

The BSE benchmark Sensex, which tumbled nearly 480 points to 79,226.13 earlier, was up 312.15 points or 0.39% at 80,018.06 a little while ago.

The broader Nift50 index of the National Stock Exchange was up 88.70 points or 0.36% at 24,456.20, recovering well from a low of 24,212.10.

JSW Steel, the top gainer in the Sensex, is up 2.2%. HDFC Bank, Infosys and Axis Bank are gaining 1.3 to 1.6%. Kotak Bank, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel and ITC are up with moderate gains.

Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Power Grid Corporation, Nestle, State Bank of India, Hind Unilever and Reliance Industries are down 0.5 to 1.2%.

Among Adani group shares, Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Ports, Adani Power and Adani Wilmar are down 1 to 2.5%. Adani Total Gas is down more than 4%.

Shares of Jublilant Foodworks rallied more than 5% thanks to strong quarterly results. Sun TV Network shares are down more than 8% after the company reported a 6.21% drop in standalone profit for the first quarter of the current financial year at Rs 546.98 crore.

Shares of Voltas Limited are gaining more than 8% thanks to the company's consolidated net profit surging to Rs 334.23 crore in the first quarter of financial year 2024-25, compared to a profit of Rs 129.29 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The market breadth is almost neutral. On BSE, 1,887 stocks are up in positive territory, while 1,962 stocks are weak. 153 stocks are little changed from their previous closing levels.