Mumbai, February 20 The benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty, recovered their initial losses and traded higher on Friday, driven by buying in banking and capital goods stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex declined by 291.93 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 82,206.21 in the initial trading session. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped by 74.6 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 25,379.75.
However, both benchmark indices soon rebounded from their initial losses and were trading in positive territory. The BSE benchmark quoted 161.43 points higher at 82,659.57, and the Nifty traded 65.55 points up at 25,519.90.
Among the Sensex constituents, Bharat Electronics Ltd, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, PowerGrid, Sun Pharmaceuticals, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the gainers.
Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, HCL Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Asian Paints, and Trent were the laggards.
"Amidst the various challenges, the strength of the Indian economy and the recovery in corporate earnings, as reflected in the Q3 numbers, are positive for the market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited.
He further said that investors may wait and watch the unfolding developments in the Middle East, and those who are optimistic about a possible deal can "use the current weakness in the market to buy fairly valued high-quality stocks in banking and financials, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, hotels, leading capital goods and telecom companies".
The broader Asian markets were trading lower, with Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark declining by 1.25 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.67 per cent. However, South Korea's Kospi rose by nearly 2 per cent.
Stock markets in mainland China remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.
The US equity markets settled lower on Thursday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 880.49 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors were also net sellers of stocks worth Rs 596.28 crore, according to exchange data.
Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 0.33 per cent to USD 71.90 per barrel.
On Thursday, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled by 1,236.11 points to settle at 82,498.14, while the NSE Nifty slumped by 365 points to close at 25,454.35.