MARKETS: Sensex up 500 pts; Nifty near day’s high; Auto, IT stocks lead

Markets at 12 noon

LIVE market updates: Headline indices extended their gains in afternoon trade and were near the day’s highs, supported by select counters including Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Tourbo, and Tata Motors. The BSE Sensex was nearly 500 points higher at 57,921 , and the NSE Nifty was at 17,240, up 153 points.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices continued to outperform benchmark indices. The two were up 0.9 and 1.4 per cent, respectively.

Auto and IT indices were leading the gains among sectoral indices and were trading over 1 per cent higher on the NSE. Auto majors Tata Motors, M&M, Exide, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor were trading 0.8-2 per cent higher.

That apart, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technology, Mindtree, Infosys, Wipro were up 0.8-3 per cent on the NSE.

Futher, telecom stocks also put on a strong show and were in high demand after the DoT announced that commercial 5G services will be rolled out in 13 cities, including the metropolises, in the new year 2022. READ MORE.

Asian Markets

Shares in Asia largely inched up after the S&P 500 notched yet another record close on the Wall Street overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 led gains among the region’s major markets as it gained 1.13 per cent while the Topix index advanced 1.04 per cent.

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index sat slightly lower by the afternoon. Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech stocks largely fell, with shares of Tencent down 2.9 per cent while Meituan dropped 2.2 per cent.. Alibaba shares, on the other hand, gained 0.4 per cent. The Hang Seng Tech index declined 0.99 per cent.

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Benchmark indices were firmly holding on to their opening gains aided by broad-based buying. The BSE Sensex was up 374 points at 57,795 and the NSE Nifty50 was at 17,200, 114 points higher.

The broader indices were seen putting up an outperformance. The BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices were up 0.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

Mphasis, Oil, Vodafone Idea, Indian Hotel, RBL Bank, IRCTC, Union Bank, SRF were leading the gains on the BSE MidCap index, up 1.7-3 per cent.

“The Indian benchmarks made a gap-up opening on Tuesday amid positive global cues. Markets will take support with report that India’s exports in the first weeks of December rose 36.20 per cent coupled with rise in outbound shipments around 27.7 per cent,” said Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research.

Adding: “The overall sentiment, however, may renain cautious as the Centre has extended the existing Covid-related restrictions in the country till January. There may be some buzz in the telecom stocks as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said commercial 5G services will be rolled out in 13 cities in India. Our research suggests that the levels of 17,100 may act as important level for the Nifty. If the market sustains 17100, we can expect the Nifty to trade in the range of 17100-17400.”

Among indices, Nifty Realty, Consumer Durables, IT and Auto were leading the gains, up 0.7-1 per cent. The volatility index was down 1.15 per cent as compared to its 6 per cent rise in early morning trade on Monday.

That apart, the shares of BSE surged 10 per cent to Rs 2,028 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Tuesday’s intra-day trade, after the company announced that its board will meet on February 8, 2022 to consider a bonus issue. READ MORE.

New listing

Supriya Lifescience (SLL) has made a strong market debut, with its shares listing at Rs 425, a 55 per cent premium over its issue price of Rs 274 per share on the BSE. The stock has opened at Rs 421, a 54 per cent higher against its issue price on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). READ MORE.

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Opening Bell

LIVE market updates: The benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday supported by robust global sentiment and were rallying up to 0.7 per cent. The BSE Sensex was up 393 points at 57,814 and the Nifty50 was at 17200, up 114 points.

In line with this, broader market indices–BSE MidCap and SmallCap– were also in the positive zone, trading 0.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent up, respectively. On the NSE, Nifty SmallCap 100 and 250 indices were leading the gains, trading 1.2 per cent up.

On the Sensex, apart from Dr Reddy’s Labs, which was down 0.5 per cent, the rest were trading in the green. Asian Paints, HCL Technology, PowerGrid, Infosys, NTPC, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Bank were the leading gainers, up 0.6-1.4 per cent.

Among indices, the Nifty IT, PSU Bank and consumer durables were leading the gains, up by nearly 1 per cent each.

Individually, on the BSE, MTNL, HCC, Siemens were the top gainers, trading 4-10 per cent higher. On the Nifty, Adani Ports, Eicher Motors and Grasim were additonal gainers, up 1.4-1.5 per cent.

Derivative and technical view

Nifty weekly contract has highest open interest (OI) at 17700 for Calls and 17000 for Puts, while monthly contracts have highest OI at 17000 for Calls and 17000 for Puts. Highest new OI addition was seen at 17000 for Calls and 17000 for Puts in weekly and at 18000 for Calls and 17000 for Puts in monthly contracts.

FIIs increased their future index long position holdings by -0.67 per cent, increased future index shorts by -2.55 per cent and in index options by 29.21 per cent in Call longs, 14.60 per cent in Call short, 11.85 per cent in Put longs and 28.31 per cent in Put shorts.

The Nifty, according to a note from Geojit Financial Services, is poised to head into the upper range of the 17,100-17,170 band that has been on discussion in the last few days. This opens up chances of 17600, but the brokerage is not convinced of a vertical rise in the index and feels that yet another downswing is still on the cards.

“We will limit the upside expectations to 17300, and will look to remount the bear view if 17170 continues to resist again, or if there is a direct fall back below 17085,” the brokerage said in a morning note.

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LIVE market updates: Benchmark indices were holding decent gains in the pre-open session. The BSE Sensex was higher by nearly 300 points at 57,721, while the Nifty50 was at 17,165, up 79 points.

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The benchmark indices are expected to open on a positive note on Tuesday deriving support from strong global market cues and robust export data for December.

At 8:14 am, the SGX Nifty was quoting 17,268 level as against Nifty’s spot close of 17,086 on Monday.

However, investor sentiment may remain on the weaker side amid fresh covid-19 fears due to the omicron variant.

RBL Bank may be in focus for the second straight trading session after ICRA and CARE ratings said that the two had put the private bank’s ratings under watch and were closely monitoring developments.

Tata Group hospitality arm Indian Hotels Company will also be looked out for as the management on Monday told CNBC-TV18 that hotel bookings have slowed down for January and February 2022 in view of the covid-19 situation.

Meanwhile, India’s exports reportedly jumped by 36.2 per cent in the first three weeks of December 2021 as against a 27.7 per cent growth in the same period last year.

New listing

Supriya Lifescience will be in focus today as the stock makes its debut on the bourses. The IPO was subscribed 71.5 times, with huge demand from the NIIs, subscription of more than 161 times. The Grey Market Premium indicates a possibility of a bumper listing, with premium seen in the range of 40-25 per cent versus the issue price of Rs 274 per share.

Global cues

The US markets ended on a strong note, with the S&P 500 index at a new all-time high on the back of strong holiday season retail sales data.

Oil prices jumped to higher levels even as 1,000 flights were canceled over the weekend on hopes that Omicron may have a limited impact on the economy. Brent Crude surged 3.2 per cent to $78.60 a barrel, and WTI Crude futures rose 2.4 per cent to $75.57 a barrel.

The major markets in Asia this morning were all in the positive zone. Japan’s Nikkei had surged over a per cent. Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng were up around 0.2 per cent each. Straits Times and Taiwan Weighted had advanced more than 0.5 per cent, while Kospi was flat.