Indian markets maintain upward momentum

Mirroring other Asian peers, Indian equity markets maintained their upward momentum in the afternoon session as concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant eased. Sentiments were upbeat as Former Obama admin official stated that India-US Trade Policy Forum has a key role to play in deepening the understanding of each other's positions in a non-negotiating, non-transaction-oriented setting. In another positive development, Credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has said that the strong initial public offering (IPO) issuances in FY22 in the Indian buoyant stock market bode well with the country’s economic recovery. Meanwhile, monetary policy committee of the Reserve Bank of India will tomorrow announce its policy decision. The Reserve Bank of India will likely keep its key lending rate at a record low for a ninth straight meeting, with a new virus variant seen as the latest threat to the central bank’s efforts to return policy to normal. Healthy buying was observed in blue-chip stocks like Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green after China pledged steps to support growth and investors were encouraged by some optimistic comments on Omicron. Back home, RateGain Travel Technologies' IPO retail portion was subscribed more than 100 per cent within a few hours of opening on Tuesday. RateGain IPO was subscribed nearly 0.20 times and it received 3.58 million bids against the offer of 17.35 million shares.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57701.54, up by 954.40 points or 1.68% after trading in a range of 56992.27 and 57732.97. There were 28 stocks advancing against 2 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.92%, while Small cap index was up by 1.00%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Metal up by 2.74%, Bankex up by 2.69%, Oil & Gas up by 1.99%, PSU up by 1.88%, Realty up by 1.85%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.75%, ICICI Bank up by 3.40%, Axis Bank up by 2.98%, Tata Steel up by 2.97% and Maruti Suzuki was up by 2.77%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.35% and Dr. Reddy's Lab was down by 0.04% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH has urged the government to allocate funds to introduce medical education programmes that can address the shortage of skilled healthcare manpower in the country. As part of its Budget wishlist, it also sought development of hospitals in smaller towns with adequate infrastructure to take care of patient needs.

NATHEALTH Senior Vice President Harsh Mahajan said ‘in the aftermath of COVID, it is imperative to build infrastructural capabilities so that people can access quality and critical healthcare services. The pandemic has made us realise the need of equipping hospitals in tier 2 and 3 towns with adequate infrastructure such as diagnosis centres, ventilators and oxygen plants through increased budget outlay and greater investments.’ He said this will also add up in creating employment opportunities.

Besides, he said the sector has not been able to derive the benefits of the GST transition. He said in fact, the embedded taxes in the sector have increased in the post-GST regime compared to pre-GST scenario. Therefore, he said it is imperative to rationalise GST to unlock embedded credit trapped in the healthcare value chain.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17191.15, up by 278.90 points or 1.65% after trading in a range of 16987.75 and 17198.80. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Hindalco up by 4.27%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 3.81%, ICICI Bank up by 3.65%, Tata Steel up by 3.07% and Axis Bank was up by 3.05%. On the flip side, Cipla down by 0.77%, SBI Life Insurance down by 0.65%, Divi's Lab down by 0.41%, Asian Paints down by 0.34% and Britannia Inds was down by 0.27% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 528.23 points or 1.89% to 28,455.60, Hang Seng increased 458.67 points or 1.96% to 23,808.05, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 108.71 points or 0.61% to 17,796.92, KOSPI rose 16.15 points or 0.54% to 2,989.40, Straits Times advanced 10.02 points or 0.32% to 3,126.34 and Jakarta Composite was up by 45.62 points or 0.7% to 6,592.74.

On the flip side; Shanghai Composite was down by 3.34 points or 0.09% to 3,585.97.