Markets bucked broader market weakness to end higher on Thursday as investors picked up beaten-down financial and metal stocks after three straight sessions of losses.
The Nifty rallied in the last hour of trading to close 0.90% higher at 16,170.15, while Sensex advanced 0.94% to 54,252.53. Both indices had lost nearly 1.5% in the past three sessions.
"After the heavy selloff, the market showed signs of exhaustion and could bounce for the short to medium term," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
The gains contrasted with global peers, which were trading mixed after the latest US Federal Reserve minutes confirmed the central bank's intent to tighten monetary policy quickly to control inflation.
Worries about surging price pressures and aggressive monetary policy tightening globally have sparked a flight of foreign capital from Indian equities this month, with investors selling a net $4.79 billion worth of shares so far in May, more than twice the amount they did in the whole of April.
"Inflation is a concern globally and the Fed is saying that they won't hesitate to raise rates to keep it down. But the market will be watching the numbers till they start easing out and until then, there will always be this overhang," said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive officer of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.
Underpinning the gains on Thursday, Nifty Bank and Nifty Metal rose between 2% and 3%.
State Bank of India, JSW Steel and Tata Steel were among the top gainers on the Nifty 50 index, advancing between 3% and 5%.
Nifty IT closed 1.3% higher after it slumped to its lowest since June in the previous session.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) rose 2.4% after reporting a rise in quarterly profit, while Shalimar Paints surged as much as 10% after it reported a smaller loss for the March quarter.
