India’s equity benchmarks made the gap open on Wednesday with Sensex up more than 650 points and Nifty regaining the psychologically important 17,150, led by profits from HDFC, Reliance Industries, Infosys , ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank. Meanwhile, other Asian markets also recovered after falling in the previous session on fears of a new Covid-19 variant. Japan’s Nikkei gained 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.42% and the Straits Times gained 1.2%.
As of 9:31 a.m., Sensex was up 613 points to 57,678 and Nifty was up 201 points to 17,185.
In the previous session, the Indian market fell sharply in the previous session reflecting losses in the global market after the CEO of drug maker Moderna issued a fresh alarm in the financial markets on Wednesday. Three after he warned that the COVID-19 vaccine was not as effective against the Omicron variant as they were against the Delta version.
However, markets bounced back on the back of strong GDP data due to be released after market hours on Tuesday.
India’s economy grew at the fastest pace of any major economy in government-released July-September quarterly data. Gross domestic product rose 8.4% in the September quarter from a year earlier, Statistics Department data showed on Tuesday, matching the 8.4% growth predicted in the poll. by Reuters and compared with a 20.1% increase in the previous quarter.
Twelve of the 15 sector measures compiled by the National Stock Exchange traded higher, led by a 1.2% gain in the Nifty Financial Services index. The indexes of Nifty Metal, Private Bank, Bank, IT and PSU Bank also increased by 0.7-1.2%.
On the other hand, the Nifty Pharma, Media and Healthcare indices are trading with a negative bias.
Mid-cap and small-cap stocks were mixed, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index up 0.4% while the Nifty Smallcap 100 index fell 0.15%.
Eicher Motors was the leading Nifty bullion, shares rose 3.5% to Rs 2,452. IndusInd Bank, HDFC, Hindalco, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki, Axis Bank and Asian Paints also increased by 1-3%.
On the other hand, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Indian Oil, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, ONGC, UltraTech Cement, Shree Cement and Grasim Industries are among the losers.
Market breadth was quite positive with 1,665 shares gaining while 1,044 stocks declined on BSE.
