Markets bounce back after early decline

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty recovered all the early lost ground and were trading higher during the afternoon trade on Monday amid positive trends in global equities and fresh foreign fund inflows.

During early trade, both the benchmark indices had declined as investors turned cautious about the potential disruptions from the US short-seller Hindenburg Research report on the SEBI chairperson and her husband's undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius.

The 30-share BSE benchmark jumped 400.27 points to reclaim the 80,000-mark. It surged to 80,106.18 level. The NSE Nifty also climbed 105.3 points to 24,472.80.

Earlier in the day, the 30-share BSE benchmark had lost 479.78 points to 79,226.13 while the Nifty declined 155.4 points to 24,212.10.

From the 30 Sensex firms, JSW Steel, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Motors were among the gainers from the blue-chip pack.

Adani Ports, NTPC, Power Grid and State Bank of India were among the biggest laggards.

All the 10 Adani group stocks had declined sharply during the early trade, with Adani Energy tumbling 17 per cent and Adani Total Gas tanking 13.39 per cent. However, later all the group firms recovered most of their early lost ground.

Ambuja Cements bounced back and quoted in the green.

Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani - the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani - to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg's latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted "character assassination".

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.

The US markets ended higher on Friday.

"Domestically, there is the Hindenburg report and it's likely to fall out. It appears that this "revelation" is unlikely to impact the market meaningfully," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday after days of offloading equities. They bought equities worth Rs 406.72 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.29 per cent to $79.89 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark bounced back 819.69 points or 1.04 per cent to settle at 79,705.91 on Friday. The NSE Nifty soared 250.50 points or 1.04 per cent to 24,367.50.