Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Dec.2: On the back of broad-based buying demand and bullish signs from other Asian markets, Indian equity benchmarks crept higher on Thursday ahead of the weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. The Sensex climbed 393 points, while the Nifty 50 index was trading above 17,250, a key psychological level.
The Sensex was up 343 points at 58,028 at 9:50 a.m., and the Nifty 50 index was up 105 points to 17,272.
In bumpy trading, Asian stocks crept higher, aided by gains in Chinese real estate stocks, though fears about the Omicron type of the new coronavirus restricted gains across the region.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent, driven by 0.25 percent gains in Chinese blue chips and 0.2 percent gains in Hong Kong.
However, the Nikkei 225 index in Japan sank 0.6 percent overnight, and all three major Wall Street indexes fell more than 1%, as a worldwide surge faded as news of the Omicron version of the coronavirus turned bad.
Back home, buying was seen across the board, with all 19 BSE sector gauges, with the exception of the measure of realty shares, trading higher, led by the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index, which gained 1.3 percent. The indices for power, consumer durables, utilities, basic materials, energy, healthcare, and telecommunications all increased by 0.5-1.2 percent.
The S&P BSE MidCap index increased 0.43 percent, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index rose 0.6 percent, indicating that buyers were interested in mid- and small-cap stocks.
Power Grid was the highest gainer on the Nifty, rising 3.3 percent to 213.95. Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil, Shree Cement, Titan, Grasim, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC, NTPC, and Sun Pharma all saw their stock prices rise by 1.3-3%.
Axis Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, Adani Ports, Hindalco, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Hero MotoCorp, and Tech Mahindra, on the other hand, were among those that suffered losses.
On the BSE, the overall market breadth was quite favourable, with 1,837 equities increasing and 812 dropping.
