Mumbai, April 2 The Sensex and Nifty, the benchmark equity indices, rebounded and erased all their losses on Thursday's mid-session trading as investors rushed to buy blue-chip IT stocks at lower levels.
Both indices experienced a sharp decline in early trading, with the 30-share BSE Sensex falling by 1,588.51 points to hit a day's low of 71,545.81. The index later recovered and closed at 73,255.52, up by 121.2 points, or 0.16 per cent.
Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty also declined by 496.85 points, or 2.19 per cent, to touch a day's low of 22,182.55. The index later staged a strong recovery and closed at 22,706.65, up by 27.25 points, or 0.12 per cent.
Driven by intense buying, major IT companies such as HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, and Infosys rose by up to 3 per cent.
Maruti Suzuki India, Trent, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, and ITC were also among the gainers.
However, companies like Eternal, Asian Paints, Sun Pharmaceuticals, NTPC, PowerGrid, State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, IndiGo, UltraTech Cement, and Adani Ports were among the laggards from the 30-share Sensex pack.
Among sectoral indices, IT and Information Technology emerged as the only gainers, rising by up to 2 per cent.
Asian markets ended in the red, with South Korea's Kospi declining by 4.47 per cent, Japan's Nikkei 225 falling by 2.40 per cent, Shanghai's SSE Composite slipping by 0.74 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng losing by 0.70 per cent.
European markets also traded lower, with Germany's DAX declining by 1.32 per cent, Paris' CAC 40 falling by 0.80 per cent, while London's FTSE 100 traded flat.
The US market ended significantly higher on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 7.18 per cent higher at USD 108.42 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 8,331.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, bought stocks worth Rs 7,171.80 crore.
On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped by 1,186.77 points to settle at 73,134.32. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed by 348 points to end at 22,679.40.