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Christmas week trading: Sensex, Nifty rebound on Monday after 5 days of bear market; Rupee stays flat

Traders treat themselves to stocks at lower levels as BSE Sensex and Nifty post sharp recovery, providing respite from last week's five-day slide; Rupee fails to carry on the momentum due to strong dollar demand

(File) Sculptures of the 'trading bull' and members of an Indian family in front of the National Stock Exchange | PTI

Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty staged impressive rallies when markets opened on Monday, two days shy of Christmas. The recovery, built atop a positive global climate and buying streak at lower levels, came after five consecutive trading days of falling.

The Sensex alone jumped at least 625 points in early morning trade, while the Nifty soared by around 220 points. In contrast, Sensex shed more than 4,090 points and Nifty at least 1,180 points in the past five trading days.

Finance stocks of HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and Bajaj Finance posted impressive gains in the Sensex, along with Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, and Tata Steel. Zomato, which made its debut in the 30-share benchmark, traded in the red, along with Sun Pharma.

Fears of selloff by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued despite the positive trading window. On the last trading day, i.e., Friday, FIIs offloaded at least Rs 3,597 crore of equities, as per market data.

Rupee stays flat despite recovery in Indian equity markets 

However, all of the Christmas cheer spreading to the equities market could not help the rupee sustain its recovery from its lowest levels.

On Monday morning, the rupee stayed flat at Rs 85.04 against the US dollar due to the higher demand for the US currency on rising crude oil prices.

India's forex reserves, as per latest data, dropped to around USD 652.9 billion for the week ended December 13.