Mumbai, Jun 12 (IANS): The Indian equity indices registered a sharp recovery on Friday to settle on a positive note, with the BSE Sensex gaining over 1,400 points from its day's low.

Tracking a fall in the US and Asian markets on fears of resurgence in coronavirus cases, the domestic indices had a gap-down opening and the BSE Sensex fell as low as 1,190.27 points during initial trade to touch an intra-day low of 32,348.10.

However, gains in the European indices provided some support to the Indian indices later. Healthy buying in auto and oil and gas stocks also pushed the indices higher.

Rahul Sharma, Head of Research, Equity99, said: "We witnessed a sharp bounce back today after opening low as the US and other European markets bounced back. Buying was limited to select index-heavy stocks."

"The recovery in the mid-trading session was led by a sharp rally in automobile shares and oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries. However, most traders preferred to stay light ahead of the weekend," he said.

Sharma noted that going forward, the market is expected to remain range-bound as global clues will continue to drive the sentiments. The global scenario is overall weak as the second wave of the infection is hitting market sentiments and economies as well, he added.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said that the Indian markets witnessed a sharp fall in the opening session on Friday following the US markets which posted their worst day since mid-March on Wednesday.

On the technical front, he said 9,500 would act as a strong support for the Nifty50 and there may be an upward move towards 10,200 zone.

On Friday, the Nifty50 closed at 9,972.90, higher by 70.90 points or 0.72 per cent from its previous close of 9,902 points.

The Sensex closed at 33,780.89, higher by 242.52 points or 0.72 per cent from its previous close of 33,538.37.

It had opened at 32,436.69 and touched an intra-day high of 33,856.27 and a low of 32,348.10.