Despite a sharp fall in the US and Asian markets, Indian stocks recovered in the second part of the trading session to close flat, largely due to buying in the Reliance Industries and ONGC counters.
Yesterday, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq shed 2.35 per cent and 3.35 per cent on the back of a grim report by World Bank, which projected that the world economy would shrink 2.9 per cent this year.
Taking cues from that, most Asian markets opened and closed in the red today. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei shed 2.8 per cent each. The Jakarta Composite closed down 3.37 per cent.
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Even the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex mirrored the gloomy sentiments in the morning. It opened 178 points lower at 14,148.87 today. However, buying emerged in the afternoon session. The Sensex closed the day, down 2.21 points, or -0.02 per cent, at 14,324.01. The CNX Nifty closed at 4,247, up 12 points, or 0.28 per cent.
“The markets recovered mainly because of two reasons: Buying in RIL and short covering before the derivatives expiry this Thursday,” said Deven Choksey, managing director, KR Choksey. Choksey felt that market could stay rangebound for some time and the Nifty could move between 4150 and 4450.