Domestic markets trade in fine fettle; Nifty above 17,050 mark

Indian equity benchmarks magnified their previous session’s gains with gap-up opening on Thursday on firm global cues. Markets soon extend their gains and are trading at day’s high points in early deals on account of board based buying in all the sector indices led by Realty, Power and Metal. Some support came in as rating agency ICRA said that profitability of sugar, fertiliser and dairy sectors will remain stable in FY22, with only three months left to close the financial year 21-22. Traders took note of MPC minutes released by the central bank showing that RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das pitched for continued policy support to nurture revival in sectors especially those which are exposed to the evolving headwinds in the wake of spread of Omicron variant of Covid. Besides, the I-T department said income tax refunds of over Rs 1.44 lakh crore have been issued to 1.38 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. Meanwhile, India has so far recorded close to 250 cases of Omicron across 15 states and union territories even though at least 90 of the infected people have either recovered or migrated. Amid fresh concerns caused by the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting on the Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation in the country today.

Global cues remained firm with all the Asian markets trading higher, though the upside remained limited ahead of the holiday season. A South African study indicated lower risks of hospitalization and severe disease in people infected by the Omicron variant compared to Delta variant. Back home, IT industry stocks were in focus with a private report stating that the US government has withdrawn the Donald Trump era proposal to change the process of granting H-1B visa from the current lottery system to a wage-based system, a move that could cheer the Indian IT companies. In scrip specific development, Tata Steel surged as it reported that its UK-based Port Talbot plant is a part of the construction of the world's largest offshore wind farm due to be completed by 2026.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 57373.60, up by 443.04 points or 0.78% after trading in a range of 57168.98 and 57377.13. There were 29 stocks advancing against 1 stock declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index jumped 0.99%, while Small cap index was up by 1.06%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.80%, Power up by 1.35%, Metal up by 1.35%, IT up by 1.30%, Utilities up by 1.28%, while there were no losers on BSE sectoral front.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Power Grid up by 2.16%, Wipro up by 1.96%, NTPC up by 1.80%, ITC up by 1.72% and Tech Mahindra up by 1.60%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.35% was the sole loser.

Meanwhile, with an aim to formulate measures to improve ease of living, doing business and reduce the compliance burden, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has pitched for simplicity. He also called for the creation of a single identification number for businesses and individuals by merging several identification numbers that exist presently, such as Aadhaar, PAN and TAN, so that delivery of services becomes smoother and faster.

Goyal said government departments can take cues from the private sector which often makes things simpler for users. Citing an example, he said it is because of this simplicity that many people prefer to book their tickets on online platforms like MakeMyTrip rather than on IRCTC. He said ‘Simplicity is extremely important...Young boys and girls come in and make a system which is (so) easy to navigate that our whole complex mechanism becomes totally redundant...I am only trying to explain that simplicity is going to be very important going forward’.

He also called for timely delivery of services, simple monitoring mechanism, practical feedback from stakeholders and easy processes to further improve ease of living. He pointed out ‘With all due respect, very fancy presentations that these big consulting companies come and give are never going to solve the problems of this country or the big, big reports that come from international organisations. We Indians can devise mechanisms which suit the Indian context’.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17090.60, up by 135.15 points or 0.80% after trading in a range of 17031.75 and 17095.75. There were 45 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Ports & SEZ up by 2.89%, IOC up by 2.75%, Power Grid up by 2.13%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.87% and Wipro up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Asian Paints down by 0.37%, UPL down by 0.12%, Divi's Lab down by 0.10%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.06% and SBI Life Insurance down by 0.03% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets are trading in green; Nikkei 225 surged 140.04 points or 0.49% to 28,702.25, Straits Times rose 8.12 points or 0.26% to 3,095.63, Hang Seng advanced 26.28 points or 0.11% to 23,128.61, Taiwan Weighted jumped 79.89 points or 0.45% to 17,906.72, KOSPI gained 7.65 points or 0.26% to 2,992.13, Jakarta Composite added 5.88 points or 0.09% to 6,535.47 and Shanghai Composite was up by 4.57 points or 0.13% to 3,627.19.