Optimism over the fourth quarter results and upbeat global cues helped Indian markets fight the intensifying fear of another round of lockdown because of rising Covid cases and the equity benchmark Sensex scaled 200 points in early trade on Tuesday.
Covid scare continues with 1.62 lakh new cases registered in last 24 hours
Optimism over the fourth quarter results and upbeat global cues helped Indian markets fight the intensifying fear of another round of lockdown because of rising Covid cases and the equity benchmark Sensex scaled 200 points in early trade on Tuesday.
The 30-share BSE index was trading 236.71 points or 0.49 per cent higher at 48,120.09, and the broader NSE Nifty advanced 68.55 points or 0.48 per cent to 14,379.35, in the early trading hours.
The rally was fuelled by gains in index majors Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC twins. ONGC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 3 per cent, followed by M&M, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance, L&T, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finserv. TCS, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Dr Reddy’s and HCL Tech were among the laggards.
The Sensex plunged 1,707.94 points or 3.44 per cent to end at 47,883.38, and Nifty 524.05 points or 3.53 per cent to finish at 14,310.80 at the close on Monday. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market with an offload volume of Rs 1,746.43 crore on Monday.
Domestic equities look to be modestly good at the moment, says Binod Modi, Head of Strategy at Reliance Securities. “While a sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in the country and possibility of larger economic restrictions has dented the investor sentiment, the fourth quarter earnings began on a strong note with TCS delivering strong earnings performance with encouraging management commentaries. This should help IT stocks to remain in focus in the near term,” he says.
A total of 1,61,736 new Coronavirus infections have been reported in the last 24 hours, pushing India’s tally of cases to 1,36,89,453, while the national recovery rate dropped further to 89.51 per cent, according to data updated by the Union Health Ministry on Monday.
The death toll increased to 1,71,058 with 879 new fatalities. Registering a steady increase for the 34th day in a row, the number of active cases rose to 12,64,698, or 9.24 per cent of the total infections.