Sensex, Nifty remain under grip of bulls

Indian equity benchmarks remained under a grip of bulls in late morning session, with both Sensex and Nifty trading on a strong note. Positive cues from other Asian markets helped key indices to maintain their gaining rally. Traders got encouragement, after Reserve Bank Governor Das said that cut in excise duty on petrol, diesel to bring down inflation rate on durable basis. Besides, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said banks will be allowed to infuse capital in their overseas branches as well as repatriate profits without seeking its prior approval, subject to fulfilling of certain regulatory capital requirements.

On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly in green, even after Japan posted a current account surplus of 1,018.7 billion in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday - down 39.4 percent on year. That missed expectations for a surplus of 1,308.5 billion yen following the 1,033.7 billion yen surplus in September. Exports were up 11.7 percent on year at 7,080.0 Billion yen and imports jumped an annual 28.3 percent to 6,913.2 billion yen for a trade surplus of 166.7 billion yen.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58449.96, up by 816.31 points or 1.42% after trading in a range of 58122.27 and 58539.72. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 1.10%, while Small cap index was up by 1.47%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.77%, TECK up by 1.69%, Basic Materials up by 1.54%, Metal up by 1.44% and Bankex up by 1.37%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 2.73%, ICICI Bank up by 2.59%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.19%, HCL Tech. up by 2.03% and SBI up by 2.02%. On the flip side, Power Grid down by 0.12% was the only loser.

Meanwhile, Rating agency ICRA in its latest report has said that continuing on the recovery path, domestic air passenger traffic crossed the 10-million mark in November 2021 for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the aviation industry in March last year. However, it said the new COVID Variant ‘Omicron’ has the potential to derail the domestic recovery too, if it becomes a source of a fresh round of lockdowns/ restrictions in the near term.

According to the report, after recording 1.23 crore domestic passengers in February 2020, domestic air travel demand dipped to 19.84 lakh passengers in the first month (June 2020) of the resumption of flight services on the local routes after a two-month hiatus. The recovery in domestic traffic continued till March this year when a more virulent second wave of the pandemic hit the country, resulting in domestic travel demand nosediving to 21.15 lakh passengers in May 2021. In the second phase of the recovery, domestic travel demand rose to 10.04-10.05 million (1.004 crore-1.005 crore) in November 2021 as against 63.54 lakh passengers recorded in the year-ago period, registering a robust 64 per cent year-on-year growth. The month-on-month growth, however, stood at 15-16 per cent in November over around 8.98 million passenger traffic in October 2021.

ICRA further said domestic carriers deployed 49 percent higher capacity in November 2021 vis-a-vis November 2020, logging around 80,750 departures in the month under review as against 54,132 departures in the year-ago period. On a sequential basis, it said the number of departures in November was around 12 per cent higher as coronavirus infections demonstrated a downward trajectory.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17413.30, up by 236.60 points or 1.38% after trading in a range of 17308.95 and 17436.30. There were 47 stocks advancing against 3 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 2.92%, ICICI Bank up by 2.65%, Grasim Industries up by 2.47%, Bajaj Finserv up by 2.37% and SBI up by 2.03%. On the flip side, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.35%, Divi's Lab down by 0.38% and Power Grid down by 0.02% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly in green; Nikkei 225 surged 385.47 points or 1.35% to 28,841.07, Taiwan Weighted strengthened 97.77 points or 0.55% to 17,894.69, Shanghai Composite gained 31.02 points or 0.86% to 3,626.11, KOSPI rose 16.05 points or 0.54% to 3,007.77 and Jakarta Composite soared 15.19 points or 0.23% to 6,617.76. On the flip side, Straits Times trembled 7.88 points or 0.25% to 3,126.78 and Hang Seng decreased 28.75 points or 0.12% to 23,954.91.