Sharp fall in daily Covid-19 caseload and heavy foreign fund inflow offer comfort to the market
Sensex jumped over 200 points in early trade on Thursday, tracking gains in index majors Infosys, TCS and HDFC Bank amid heavy foreign fund inflow. Nifty too advanced 59.95 points or 0.38 per cent to 15,746.90, as number of active Covid-19 cases declined to 6,27,057, according to a Union Health Ministry bulletin.
The rupee too rose 9 paise to 74.18 against the dollar in early trade.
The 30-share BSE index was trading 216.23 points or 0.41 per cent higher at 52,522.31 in initial deals. TCS was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 1 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, L&T, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank, while Titan, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and Reliance Industries were among laggards.
In the previous session, Sensex index ended 282.63 points or 0.54 per cent lower at 52,306.08, while Nifty declined 85.80 points or 0.54 per cent to 15,686.95.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 3,156.53 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional exchange data.
According to Binod Modi, head of strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities look to be modestly good as of now. Sharp contraction in daily caseload and ramp-up in vaccination programmes offer comfort to the market.
“We believe expectations of a sharp improvement in high-frequency key economic indicators from the current month supported by ease in business curbs in various states should continue to offer support to corporate earnings,” he added.
US equities traded sideways and ended mixed on Wednesday after two days of back-to-back gains.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Shanghai was in the red.
Brent crude was trading 0.12 per cent higher at $75.28 per barrel.