Mkts rebound from two-mth lows as Re recovers after FM balm

The S&P BSE Sensex today bounced back from 2-month lows to end 55 points up on late buying in IT and auto scrips tracking a recovery in rupee, amid Finance Minister P Chidambaram' assurance that there was no need for panic and the RBI will take action to stem the currency slide.

The benchmark index resumed lower at 18,695.80 and dropped further to a low of 18,615.14 on sustained selling pressure. However, Sensex recovered afterwards to 18,820.81 before finishing at 18,774.24, showing a net gain of 54.95 points or 0.29 per cent.

The NSE 50-share Nifty also moved up by 11.75 points or 0.21 per cent to finish at 5,667.65. Also, SX40 index, the flagship index of MCX-SX, closed 19.53 points up, or 0.18 per cent, at 11,138.38.

Shares of Auto, Power and Refinery also moved up on good buying enquiries at current levels while Metal, Realty and Consumer Durables continued to decline on selling pressure.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack today, 16 stocks including Infosys, TCS, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Mahindra and Coal India ended higher. 13 scrips including RIL, SBI, BHEL, Hindalco and Jindal Steel closed lower. ITC managed to close flat on some support.

"We are watching the situation, RBI will take whatever action it has to take. We have good economic advisors. We will (do) whatever has to be done... My request is you should not react in panic, its happening around the world," Chidambaram said at a press conference in New Delhi.

The rupee had touched all-time low of 59.98 in intra-day trade yesterday but today recovered to 59.14 at 1600 hours on dollar sales by banks.

Higher European markets where indices in France, Germany and UK firmed up to 1 per cent helped boost domestic stocks.

Most Asian markets ended lower after the US Federal Reserve's plan to wind down bond purchases led to heavy losses on Wall Street, while Japanese stocks ended higher on the back of a weakened yen. Yesterday, Sensex had crashed over 526 points.