Sensex stages strong comeback, climbs 144 points in early trade

Mumbai: Market staged a strong comeback after yesterday's losses in early trade on Wednesday as the BSE Sensex recovered by about 144 points following widespread buying amid rising hopes over passage of the GST bill in Parliament.

Moreover, sustained foreign fund inflows and a mixed trend at other Asian markets on caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision later in the day, influenced market sentiment.

The Sensex, which had lost 118.82 points in yesterday's trade, was trading higher by 143.87 pooints, or 0.51 percent at 28,120.39.

The 50-share NSE Nifty recaptured the 8,600-level, by soaring 56.05 points or 0.65 percent at 8,646.70.

From the Sensex pack, Maruti Suzuki India, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, HDFC Ltd, GAIL, SBI, ONGC, Power Grid, NTPC, TCS, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Larsen and Toubro were major gainers, rising by up to 2.64 percent.

However, Dr Reddy's continued its slide and plunged 9.72 percent to Rs 2,999.85 as international rating agencies downgraded the stock after its consolidated net profit declined by 80 percent for the June quarter.

In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei rose 2.32 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 0.16 percent in early trade today. Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.62 percent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.10 percent down in yesterday's trade.