Markets recoup from 2-month lows; IT gains

Indian equity markets ended a volatile session on a positive note this Friday as investors preferred to buy technology stocks amid optimism that the weak rupee would improve profitability going ahead.

The 30-share Sensex rose 54.95 points to close at 18,774.24 and the 50-share Nifty gained 11.75 points at 5,667.65 levels.

The benchmark indices fell most on Thursday in nearly 21-months.

Global investor sentiments remained edgy after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted towards tapering off the bond-buying programme popularly known as 'quantitative easing' sooner-than-expected once US economy shows sustainable signs of recovery.

The Fed may trim its monthly bond purchases by $20 billion to $65 billion in September, a Bloomberg survey showed.

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Globally, Asian stocks ended mixed amid looming uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's bond-buying plans.

The Nikkei rose 1.6% to 13,230, Singapore Straits Times declined 0.3% to 3,124, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.6% to 20,263 while China's Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% at 2,073.

European stocks, US equity-index futures and metals rallied after the biggest rout in global equities since September 2011.

France's CAC gained 1% to 3,734, Germany's DAX rose 0.5% to 7,965 while UK's FTSE was up 1% to 6,221 today.

Meanwhile, Rupee recovered today after diving to a record low of 59.9850 to the dollar on Thursday, following a hawkish US Fed statement.

The currency traded at 59.22/USD versus yesterday's close of 59.58.

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Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor H R Khan said on Friday all steps to address the rupee's fall were being taken, and both the government and the central bank were watching the currency situation, according to television channels.

Back home, the key sectoral losers included banks, real-estate, metals while IT, auto and power indices gained on the BSE.

Bank stocks declined on worries that the rising rupee would force the Reserve Bank of India to defer reduction in key policy rate going forward.

In the financial segment, ICICI Bank was down 0.2% while SBI fell 0.3%.

Among the mining stocks,  Sterlite and Hindalco Industries were both down between 1-4% while Jindal Steel shed 8% today.

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The gainers included counters such as TCS rising 1.3%, Infosys gained 2.2%, ONGC was up 2.6% on the BSE.

The key notable movers included counters such as, Future Retail slumped 33% to Rs 98.60 on NSE after the stock turn ex-scheme of arrangement today.

Hindustan Unilever dropped 0.4 per cent after Unilever Plc's $5.4 billion (approximately Rs 29,380 crore) open offer to increase stake in its Indian arm began today.

The open offer will close on July 4.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) tanked 8% to Rs 204, its lowest value since April 2009 after the global investment bank UBS downgraded the stock to "Sell" and reduced its target price to Rs 230 from Rs 290.

The broader markets ended lower with mid-caps and small-caps falling 0.3-1 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was negative.

Out of 2,462 stocks traded so far, 1,342 stocks declined while 981 advanced on the BSE.