Sensex, Nifty bounce back in the green after a tepid opening

• SBI, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Maruti and M&M are the major gainers.
• Wipro, Power Grid, Titan and Tata Steel are among the laggards.
• Seoul and Tokyo are trading in the negative territory while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoting in the green.

Equity benchmark indices, the Nifty and the Sensex, gave up initial gains in the first half-hour of trade on Friday to quote in the negative territory. However, at the time of publishing, the Nifty is trading flat at 19,757 and the Sensex has also rebounded to reclaim the 66,300.

Among the Sensex firms, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd Bank, Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers.

Wipro, Power Grid, Titan and Tata Steel were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo were trading in the negative territory while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted in the green.

The US markets ended in the negative territory on Thursday.

"FIIs have reversed their 'Buy India strategy' which they have been following in the last 3 months with selling to the tune of Rs 16,934 crore in September," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Countering this negative trend is the hugely positive news of JP Morgan including India in the emerging market bond index with a weightage of 10% from June 2024 onwards, Vijayakumar said.

"This will reduce bond yields and the consequent decline in the cost of borrowing will boost the bottom line of companies," he added.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.53% to USD 93.79 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,007.36 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

"India's inclusion in JP Morgan emerging markets bond index is great news which would give a booster access to global investors to participate in the world's fastest-growing large economy," Rakeshh Mehta, Chairman, Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

The BSE benchmark fell 570.60 points or 0.85% to settle at 66,230.24 on Thursday. The Nifty declined 159.05 points or 0.80% to end at 19,742.35.