The benchmark Sensex and Nifty 50 rebounded from losses by March 22 noon, led by gains in financial services, automobile, and healthcare stocks. The indices opened lower, battered by a slump in tech stocks after Accenture cut its revenue guidance over an uncertain economic environment

Excluding the Nifty IT, most sectoral indices were able to hold their gains riding on the hopes of rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. The global market outlook turned bullish and major indices hit record highs after the US Federal Reserve maintained its plans to lower the policy rates three times this year supported by strong economic indicators, said Prashanth Tapse, senior vice-president of research at Mehta Equities.

IT stocks may see a slowdown following Accenture's revised revenue forecast, he said.

In the broader market, BSE Midcap was up 0.2 percent and BSE Smallcap by 1 percent.

Around noon, the Sensex was up 102.17 points or 0.14 percent at 72,743.36, and the Nifty 50 was up 43.00 points or 0.20 percent at 22,055.00. About 2,180 shares advanced, 967 declined, and 102 traded unchanged.

Sectoral Trends

Barring Nifty IT which was down nearly 2 percent, all sectoral indices were in the positive territory. Nifty Realty and Nifty Media were up 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent.

Fundamental View

The favorable global developments have provided some respite to the recent beating, and thus, it is advisable to keep a close watch to project the near-term trend of our markets, Sameet Chavan, research head for technicals and derivatives at Angel One. Chavan said that it is important to stay fussy in stock selection and refrain from aggressive bets until we get clarity over the market trend.

Technical View

Nifty 50 needs to move past the 22,300 zone to strengthen positive bias and retest the previous peak of 22,525, said Vaishali Parekh, vice president of technical research at Prabhudas Lilladher.

Deven Mehata, research analyst at Choice Broking, said that Nifty 50 is facing resistance at 22,100, followed by 22,150 and 22,200. "The support for the day is at 21,950 followed by 21,900 and 21,800," he added.

Key Nifty gainers

Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharmaceutical, UPL, Apollo Hospital

Key Nifty losers

Wipro, HCLTech, Infosys, LTIMindtree, TCS

Key Sensex gainers

Sun Pharmaceutical, Maruti Suzuki, Titan Co, Tata Steel, ITC

Key Sensex losers

Wipro, HCLTech, Infosys, TCS, Tech Mahindra

Stock moves

Prestige Estates Projects: Shares rallied more than 5 percent after the company acquired 62.5 acres of land in Indirapuram Extension, NCR.

Bharat Dynamics: Shares gained 2 percent after the company's board approved a sub-division of its equity shares and declared an interim dividend for FY23-24.