Equity benchmarks bounced back on Tuesday after a two-day
steep fall, with the Sensex rising over 173 points in early trade, but later
turning choppy.

The BSE Sensex was trading 173.39 points higher at
54,644.06 in early deals. The NSE Nifty rose 50.65 points to 16,352.50.

Both the benchmark indices were trading flat later in a
highly volatile session.

Major gainers from the Sensex pack were Asian Paints,
Hindustan Unilever Limited, Ultratech Cement, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki,
M&M and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Among the laggard were Infosys, Tata Steel, Reliance
Industries and Titan.

The rupee rallied 20 paise to 77.24 against the US dollar
following a firm trend in domestic equity markets and falling global crude
prices boosted investor sentiment.

“The mother market US has turned distinctly weak
with Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Dow at 1-year lows. European markets are moving in
tandem with US markets. Relatively India is doing better thanks to consistent
buying by DIIs and retail investors,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief
Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Asian markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and were trading lower,
while Shanghai was trading marginally higher.

US Stock exchanges had fallen sharply on Monday.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark fell 1.99%
to USS 103.88 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors continued to sell shares worth Rs 3,361.80 crore on Monday.

Foreign institutional investors continued to offload
shares worth Rs 3,361.80 crore on Monday, according to stock exchange data.

“Wall Street plunged to its lowest level in more
than a year on Monday, as markets were already hit by rising interest rates.
Following the decline in global stocks, Indian equity indexes may face some
pressure. Asian markets are trading down on expectations of an economic
downturn as a result of growing inflation, higher interest rates and harsh
COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Shanghai,” said Mohit Nigam, Head – PMS,
Hem Securities.

The Sensex closed 364.91 points or 0.67% lower at
54,470.67 on Monday. The NSE Nifty fell 109.40 points or 0.67% to end at
16,301.85.