Healthy buying was witnessed at the country's domestic stock markets after concerns over a mutant strain of Covid-19 discovered in the UK dampened indices for the better part of Tuesday's trade session.
Resultantly, investors were seen investing in IT and pharma stocks.
Earlier, they were spooked at the prospects of economic damage unleashed by a new and more contagious Covid-19 strain discovered in the UK. This had triggered selling pressure by FIIs during the initial part of the day's trade.
Besides, high valuation and absence of any positive trigger had added fuel to the fire.
Accordingly, both the key indices S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 - fell in the pre-afternoon trade session on Tuesday. However, the Indian markets had a 'gap up' opening but weren't able to sustain their respective gains.
All sectoral indices traded in the negative except IT and Pharma space. Other sectoral indices such as Media, Realty and Financial Services witnessed major losses.
At 2.00 p.m., the Sensex gained 45,760.28 points, up 206.32 points or 0.45 per cent from its previous close.
Similarly, Nifty50 rose to 13,392.95 points, up 64.55 or 0.48 per cent from its previous close.
"After many weeks, bears are aggressive in market and we are witnessing selling pressure at higher levels from last two sessions," said Jay Purohit, Technical & Derivatives Analyst, MOFSL.
"After yesterday's sharp decline, sentiments have been dampened and further profit booking correction cannot be ruled out. Market Breadth is also in favour of declining counters."
"Considering overall structure, volatility is likely to remain high in coming days too."
According to Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia: "Market opened at 13,373.65, soon tumbled down because of increasing concerns of another virus in UK, 13,000 is next major support on Nifty."
( With inputs from IANS )