Market begins new year with a bang

Market made a bullish start to the new year with Sensex and Nifty-50 gaining 1.6 per cent.

GST collection of Rs 1.29 lakh crore, December auto sales numbers and manufacturing data boosted market sentiments while threats of the Covid third wave lingered dangerously with cases rising sharply but with fewer fatalities.

The global cues were also positive, with stocks rising in Asia and Europe as the markets opened after Christmas and New Year holidays.

The Sensex gained 1012 points intraday and hit a high of 59266.39 but finally closed 929.40 points, or 1.60 per cent, up at 59183.22. The Nifty-50 closed at

17,625.70, gaining 271.65 points or 1.57 per cent.

The rally extended to the broader market with BSE Mid-cap Index up 1.10 per cent and BSE Small-cap up

1.19 per cent.

The market breadth was extremely positive with a host of small and mid-caps across sectors posting smart gains, said brokers.

Investors' notional wealth rose by Rs 3.50 lakh crore as BSE's market capitalisation rose to over Rs

269.49 lakh crore.

Foreign portfolio investors were net buyers of equities worth Rs 902.64 crore and the domestic institutions, by Rs 803.11 crore.

Among the sectoral indices, the top gainers

included BSE Bankex (2.55 per cent), Metal (2.12 per cent), Auto (1.43 per cent), Capital Goods (1.29 per cent), Realty (1.12 per cent) and IT (0.93 per cent).

"Monthly volume data continued to be mixed with weakness in twowheelers and tractors. Demand for SUVs was good and commercial vehicles dispatches to dealers turned green, supported by LCVs. Passenger vehicles demand fell for the fourth consecutive month due to global shortage of semiconductors and cramping production. However, positive indicators like softening of commodity price, rise in economic activities, capex, encouraging farm data and the marriage season will bring growth in the auto industry during 2022," said Vinod Nair, headresearch, Geojit Financial Services.

India’s manufacturing sector kept on expanding but at a slower pace than the previous month in December.