Mumbai: Tracking firm European cues, Indian shares today snapped their two-day losing streak as the market benchmark Sensex ended 171.15 points higher at 25,822.99 driven by short covering in recently beaten-down stocks of realty and banking sectors.
Some value-buying in index majors ahead of September derivatives expiry also triggered the rebound.
Rate-sensitive shares of banking and realty sectors rose on renewed hopes of a rate cut by Reserve Bank at its upcoming policy review next week.
"Indian benchmarks opened the day on a weak note in line with Asian markets due to weak China macro numbers. However indices took a U-turn with firm opening of European markets," said Gaurav Jain Director of Hem Securities.
The 30-share Sensex after resuming lower at 25,526.53 dropped further to 25,386.48 on the back of lower Asian cues in view of disappointing Chinese manufacturing data.
The index, however, rebounded and recovered to 25,934.02 before finishing at 25,822.99 -- a jump of 171.15 points or 0.67 per cent on firm European markets.
Sensex had dropped 567.07 points in previous two sessions.
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The 50-share NSE Nifty bounced back to hit a high of 7,882.90 on value-based buying in blue-chips and finally settled 33.95 points or 0.43 per cent higher at 7,845.95.
The big gainers were Lupin, Vedanta, HDFC Bank and M&M.
In the sectoral space, consumer durables gained the most by surging 1.70 per cent, followed by banking, realty and oil & gas.
Today's turnaround was still subdued as Asian markets stared at their biggest single-day fall in a month after a private survey showed China's factory output shrank for the seventh straight month to its weakest level in 6-1/2 years.
Key indices like China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan fell between 0.79 per cent and 2.26 per cent.
But sentiment got a boost from optimism in Europe and a gain in commodities spurred a rebound in the region after stocks saw their worst decline in a month.
European shares were higher as indices in France, Germany and the UK rose in the range of 0.85 per cent to 1.19 per cent.
