Mumbai: The benchmark BSE Sensex rebounded from its over three-and-a-half months low Tuesday by rising 219 points to settle at 27,396.38 on late buying in blue-chips ICICI and Maruti Suzuki whose earning numbers beat estimates.
However, taxation concerns and corporate earning worries limited the gains in choppy session, brokers said.
"MAT issue and poor Q4 FY15 leading to earnings downgrade is concerning the market," said Vinod Nair, Head-Fundamental Research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Meanwhile, World Bank today said Indian economy has taken strong strides towards higher growth and enhanced stability, aided by a supportive external environment, in particular the sharp decline in oil and commodity prices.
World Bank projects India's GDP to expand to 7.5 percent in the current financial year. "Growth has accelerated, inflation has declined, the current account deficit has narrowed and external reserves have increased," it noted.
Besides, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in an article written in a foreign newspaper that he is considering setting up a high-level committee to resolve legacy tax cases.
Snapping its three-day losing streak, the BSE Sensex opened on a strong footing at 27,215.61 and rose further to 27,365.72 in early trade on emergence of value-buying.
However, it succumbed to profit-booking and slipped into the negative zone to touch a low of 27,073.25, but staged a strong comeback on a flurry of buying in last one hour to hit the session's high of 27,482.14 before settling 219.39 points or 0.81 percent higher at 27,396.38.
Stocks of ICICI Bank climbed 8.2 percent to at 326.65, its biggest single session gain since September 2013.
Country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki share continued its yesterday's winning streak and gained 4.93 percent to Rs 3,826.65 after its Q4 earnings beat estimates.
Sensex had dropped by 713.14 points of 2.56 percent in the last three days.
The 50-share NSE Nifty gained 71.80 points or 0.87 percent to close at 8,285.60. Intra-day, it regained the 8,300-mark to touch day's high of 8,308 and a low of 8,185.15.
Stocks may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options segment from the near month April series to May. April contracts will expire on Thursday.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,749.33 crore, while Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,667.54 crore yesterday as per provisional data.
"After series of down-ticks, investors felt some relief as the benchmark index rebounded from its crucial support zone and posted gain of nearly a percent. Better than expected results from private banking major, ICICI Bank triggered initial recovery, which later fuelled by short covering in the other index majors as well," said Jayant Manglik, President retail distribution, Religare Securities.
In overseas markets, European indices were trading lower, while Asian stocks ended mixed following the US stocks closed lower yesterday failing to hold onto Friday's records.
Key European indices like the UK, France and Germany were down in the range of 0.68 percent to 0.90 percent.
Asian stock markets ended lower today as key indices in China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea finished lower by 0.16 percent to 1.13 percent, while indices in Japan and Hong Kong firmed up by 0.03 to 0.38 percent.
Turning to the local market, 17 scrips out of the 30-share Sensex ended higher, while 13 closed lower.
Shares of bank, auto, realty and power sectors firmed up on fresh buying. Smallcap and midcap indices also rose by 1.37 percent and 1.49 percent, respectively.
Major gainers on BSE Sensex were ICICI Bank (8.02 percent), Maurti Suzuki (4.93 percent), BHEL (2.76 percent), Tata Motors (2.43 percent), Bharti Airtel (2.26 percent), NTPC (2.09 percent) and Axis Bank (2.08 percent).
However, ITC fell by 1.92 percent followed by Coal India 1.32 percent, Infosys 1.24 percent and Reliance Industries 1.09 percent.
Among the BSE sectoral indices, bankex rose by 2.41 percent, Auto 2.24 percent, realty 1.60 percent and power 1.40 percent.
The market breadth turned positive as 1,640 counters ended in the green, while 1,093 finished in the red and 89 held stable. The total turnover rose to Rs 3,444.56 crore from Rs 3,199.17 crore yesterday.
