Late-Session Rally Lifts Sensex Nearly 400 Points From Day’s Low, Nifty Trades at 24,250

Domestic equity markets staged a recovery in late afternoon trade on Tuesday after remaining under pressure for most of the session.

With gains in select heavyweight and broader-market stocks helping lift the benchmark indices into positive territory. Weakness in IT, metal and private banking stocks, however, limited the overall recovery.

As of 3:05 pm on August 25, the BSE Sensex was trading 142.47 points, or 0.18%, higher at 77,518.58. The index had recovered nearly 394 points from its intraday low of 77,125.91.

The NSE Nifty also turned positive, gaining 0.12% to 24,256.80 after touching a low of 24,115.45 earlier in the session. The benchmark had slipped into negative territory amid selling pressure across several sectors.

The broader market remained mixed. The Nifty Next 50 advanced 0.28%, while the Nifty Midcap 50 and Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.15% and 0.25%, respectively. The Nifty Midcap Select rose 0.36%.

Small-cap indices, however, continued to underperform. The Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 0.13%, while the Nifty Smallcap 250 and Nifty Smallcap 500 fell 0.17% and 0.25%, respectively.

Market volatility eased during the session, with the India VIX dropping 4.64% to 10.99, signalling lower near-term volatility compared with the previous close.

Among sectoral indices, Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom emerged as the strongest performer, rising 1.13%. Nifty MidSmall Healthcare gained 0.63%, while the Nifty Healthcare Index advanced 0.61%. Nifty Media, Consumer Durables and PSU Bank also rose 0.60%, 0.52% and 0.46%, respectively. Nifty Pharma added 0.46%.

Nifty Metal remained the biggest drag, declining 0.54%. Nifty Private Bank fell 0.28%, while Nifty Realty and Nifty Chemicals slipped 0.14% and 0.12%, respectively. Nifty IT was marginally lower by 0.09%.

In the Sensex pack, IndiGo led the gains with a rise of 1.35%, followed by Adani Ports at 1.09% and Trent at 0.91%. Titan advanced 0.83%, while BEL and LT gained 0.82% and 0.73%, respectively. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Finance were also trading higher.

HCLTech was the biggest laggard, falling 0.98%, followed by Tata Steel, which declined 0.97%. Power Grid, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever were also among the major losers. Private-sector lenders, including Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv, remained under pressure.

The late-afternoon rebound marked a turnaround from the morning session, when both benchmark indices traded in the red. Despite the recovery, market sentiment remained mixed, with gains concentrated in select heavyweight stocks, midcaps and sectoral pockets.