Sensex advances 296 pts as banking, IT stocks gain

PTI, Dec 27, 2021, 5:38 PM IST

Mumbai:  Equity benchmark Sensex rose by nearly 296 points on Monday following gains in IT, financials and pharma stocks amid a largely positive trend in global markets.

After rebounding over 960 points from the day’s low during the session, the 30-share index settled 295.93 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 57,420.24. As many as 24 Sensex stocks closed in the green while six declined.

The broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange recovered 82.50 points or 0.49 per cent to close at 17,086.25 with 40 of its constituents advancing.

Tech Mahindra was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising by over 3 per cent. Dr Reddy’s rose by 1.95 per cent, PowerGrid by 1.6 per cent, Kotak Bank by 1.56 per cent and Sun Pharma by 1.16 per cent.

Gains in ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, HDFC, M&M, Axis Bank and Bajaj Finance helped the Sensex recover from the day’s low levels.

On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, Maruti and Bharti Airtel were among the laggards.

RBL Bank tanked to its 52-week low before closing down by more than 18 per cent at Rs 140.90 on BSE. The RBI on Monday said that RBL Bank is well capitalised and its financial position remains “satisfactory”, amid speculations relating to the private sector lender.

The statement came after RBL Bank’s MD & CEO Vishawvir Ahuja stepped down and the RBI appointed its chief general manager as an additional director on the bank’s board.

Indian markets opened in red tracking mixed Asian market cues as investors tracked the impact of Omicron variant amid holiday-thinned trade, said Narendra Solanki, Head- Equity Research (Fundamental), Anand Rathi.

During the afternoon session, the markets swung back to green showing a steady trade with the recovery supported by healthcare, industrials, and capital goods stocks.

Traders were encouraged as a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank expressed hope that in a few quarters from now, capital investment would begin to pick up even in the old economy, and said the next fiscal year is also expected to witness a decent growth, Solanki said.

Sectorally, BSE healthcare, consumer durables, bankex, finance, realty and IT indices rose up to 1.37 per cent, while metal, FMCG, telecom and energy indices fell up to 0.36 per cent.

Broader midcap and smallcap indices settled up to 0.44 per cent higher.

“Despite rising Covid cases globally, the domestic market took a rebound post its weak opening factoring the low mortality rate of the new variant. Gains in pharma, IT and finance were the major sectorial contributors to the market recovery,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

Asian markets traded mixed backed by a pledge of support measures from the Chinese central bank while the US and European indices traded flat amid wounded risk sentiments owing to rocketing Omicron cases, Nair added.

Bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo ended in the red, while Hong Kong was positive. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a mixed note in the holiday trading week.

International oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.01 per cent to USD 75.78 per barrel.