Markets end 10-day slide as investors go bargain hunting

Bulls bounded back into the reckoning on Wednesday after 10 long days of decline, shored up by comebacks from auto, IT and FMCG stocks, and a fall in the value of the US dollar to a three-month low.

- Dipti Sharma

The recovery ended the longest losing streak witnessed by benchmark Nifty 50, its worst in almost 25 years. To be sure, doubts persist on whether this is just small cheer in an overall picture of decline for the markets.

Several global indices, including Germany's DAX, France's CAC 40, Hong Kong's Hang Seng, and Taiwan's Weighted Index, also closed on a positive note, lifting investor sentiment in the domestic market as well.

After a rough month—where Nifty Auto tumbled 12%, Nifty IT slid 11%, and Nifty FMCG dipped 9%—these sectors staged a strong comeback on Wednesday, recording growth of 2.6%, 2.1% and 1.5%, respectively.

Leading the charge were heavyweights like ITC (up 3.6%), Reliance Industries (1.3%), Mahindra & Mahindra (4.1%), Bharti Airtel (2.2%), and Infosys (up 1.1%).

Meanwhile, the Nifty 50 rose 1.2% to 22,337.30 and the BSE Sensex gained 1% to 73,730.23. However, it was the mid- and small-caps that stole the show. Nifty Smallcap 250 jumped 2.7%, and Nifty Midcap 100 surged 2.4% on Wednesday.

According to provisional data from BSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) off-loaded ₹2,895 crore worth of Indian equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) stepped in as net buyers, purchasing ₹3,371 crore.