Afternoon Recovery Helps Markets To End in Green

The Sensex rebounded into the green in afternoon trades as IT shares recovered backed by firm opening in European stocks. The Sensex after touching a low of 16,488 recovered 337 points. The index was up 149 points at 16,862. Nifty was up 47 points at 5,064. Asian markets however, edged lower. Nikkei ended at multi-year low at 8,590 - down 2.2 per cent. Shanghai, Seoul and Straits markets also dropped in trades. In Europe, CAC has gained 0.6 per cent while FTSE has jumped 1 per cent in trades. The European Central Bank is expected to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 1.5 per cent at its monthly policy meeting on interest rates on Thursday. In India, the Land Acquisition Bill, which seeks to lay down norms for increased compensation to land owners, was approved by the Union Cabinet. BSE IT index has recovered from a low of 4,834 and is now up marginally at 4,936. Earlier in the day, the sector dragged the markets down after Citigroup and Goldman Sachs downgraded stocks in light of the economic situation in Europe and US. The market breadth has turned positive. Of the total 1764 stocks traded on the BSE, 1369 stocks have advanced while 1289 stocks declined.