Sensex recovers 363 points in evening trade

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex recovered sharply in the pre-close trading on Friday by gaining over 363 points on reports of inflation rate easing which encouraged funds to buy.

The Sensex, which commenced the day lower by 331 points, recovered sharply to trade higher by 363.89 points at 18,070.52 at 1430 hours.

The second wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty raised by 101.10 points at 5,303.10 with all the index-linked stocks moving up.

Buying activity picked up after reports that inflation rate has declined to 4.07 per cent for the week ended on February 2 against 4.11 per cent in the previous week, mainly due to fall in prices of some food items, jet fuel, and select manufactured goods.

Trading sentiment was further boosted on reports of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserting that government will take steps to limit the impact of any global slowdown on India.