Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, Dec.8: Indian market benchmarks on Wednesday, opened with a gap up, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy decision later in the day. The Sensex climbed almost 800 points, while the Nifty 50 index regained its key psychological threshold and neared 17,450 points, thanks to increases in rate-sensitive banking, financial services, and real estate stocks. Analysts expect the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee to retain its supportive posture while keeping interest rates at record lows.
The Sensex was up 1.2 percent, or 685 points, at 58,318 at 9:28 a.m., and the Nifty 50 index was up 207 points, or 1.2 percent, at 17,383.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks extended their gains on Wednesday, continuing a global relief rally, as markets reacted positively to early reports about the Omicron variant’s possible impact, despite overnight oil price gains starting to fade.
Outside of Japan, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks jumped 0.3 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 1%. S&P 500 futures in the United States climbed 0.25 percent.
The Reserve Bank of India is expected to hold off on boosting its benchmark borrowing and lending rates on Wednesday, as it adopts a cautious tone in the wake of the outbreak of the Omicron coronavirus type, according to economists and market participants.
In a poll conducted by Reuters on December 1-3, fifty analysts predicted that the RBI would keep its benchmark repo rate at 4.00 percent.
All 15 sector indicators produced by the National Stock Exchange were trading higher, with the Nifty IT index leading the way with a 2.2 percent rise. Each of the Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Auto, Private Bank, Realty, and Oil & Gas indices increased by more than 1%.
The Nifty Midcap 100 index jumped 1%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index rose 1.4 percent, indicating that buyers were interested in mid- and small-cap stocks.
Wipro was the leading gainer on the Nifty, up 2.84 percent to 650 points. HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, ONGC, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, and Bajaj Finserv all saw their stock prices rise between 1.5 and 2.6%.
On the flipside, NTPC, Hindalco and Coal India were among the notable losers.The overall market breadth was extremely positive as 2,085 shares were advancing while 506 were declining on the BSE.
