Markets evade global trends to swing over 1%
HDFC the top gainer in the Sensex, climbing nearly 4%, followed by PowerGrid, Tata Steel
MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 777 points on Thursday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC twins, Infosys and TCS despite largely negative cues from global peers.
Rising for the second consecutive session, the 30-share index ended 776.50 points or 1.35% higher at 58,461.29. Similarly, the NSE Nifty surged 234.75 points or 1.37% to 17,401.65.
HDFC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing nearly 4%, followed by PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv. On the other hand, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were the losers.
“Irrespective of the weak sentiments in the international markets, domestic indices continued to rise due to gains in IT, financials and metal stocks amid strong domestic macroeconomic data,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
The Union government’s fiscal deficit of 36.3% of budget estimates in October, is better owing to improved revenue collection, he noted.
S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities, said, “As the volatility index cooled off today, we witnessed stock-specific action across sectors in the broader markets buoyed by GDP and GST data together with cooling energy prices.”
All sectoral indices ended on a positive note, with BSE utilities, power, IT, tech, oil and gas, metal and finance indices advancing as much as 2.21%.
On the global front, Fed Chair’s remarks stating a possibility of a faster end to the bond-buying programme and interest rate hike along with the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant in the US, triggered a fresh global sell-off.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul ended with gains, while Shanghai and Tokyo were in the red.
Stock exchanges Europe were trading with losses in midsession deals.
International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 2.41% to $70.53 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth ₹2,765.84 crore.
The rupee on Thursday slipped 8 paise to close at ₹74.99 (provisional) against the US dollar as investor concerns grew over the impact of the new coronavirus variant on the economy.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at ₹75.06 and witnessed an intra-day high of ₹74.90 and a low of ₹75.07 against the US dollar.
The local unit finally settled at ₹74.99, down 8 paise over its previous close of ₹74.91.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01% up at ₹96.03.
On the macro-economic front, India’s merchandise exports rose 26.49% year-onyear to $29.88 billion in November on better performance by key sectors, while the trade deficit hit a record high of $23.27 billion as imports of crude oil and gold spiked.